death and its shackles
by moonlit.nocturne
Summary: Trafalgar Law is a man of few morals, but even he knows pirates rank above slavers on the human scum social ladder. But when a slaver offers him priceless information in exchange for safe passage aboard his ship, Law learns that everyone can be bought—you just have to name the right price. LawxOC
1. going, going, sold!

**death and its shackles**

original story: one piece by eichiiro oda

* * *

 **chapter 1: going, going, sold!**

* * *

 _fact: slavery is the choice of the oppressors, not the oppressed._

* * *

There is such thing as a perfect temperature for a picnic: sixteen point six six seven degrees, seventeen if you're being imprecise.

Trafalgar Law did not believe in being imprecise.

That one-third of a degree meant the difference between jacket versus no jacket, hot coffee versus iced, furry snow leopard cap clean and comfortable versus furry snow leopard cap lined with sweat. (There was no option without the snow leopard cap.) All of which was to say that Law believed in calculations to the third decimal point, which drove his crew members mad because "Two is fine, Captain!" except for that one time in the Liadorian Strait when that thousandth of a point meant either successfully escaping a whirlpool or jettisoning into the bubbling pits of an active volcano, so Law maintained his practice of precision and had his crewman kiss his feet none-too-metaphorically as penance.

Today, it was a perfect sixteen point six six seven degrees outside. Trafalgar Law wore his snow leopard cap free of any sweat, kept his shirt on, and drank a hot coffee as he watched the auction occurring in Barracks Square. Beside him, Bepo happily chewed on a popsicle (yes, Bepo chewed through popsicles) and Penguin fidgeted in his seat like he'd peed in his pants and was trying to surreptitiously hide the stain.

"You didn't have to come." Law tore a piece of beef jerky off with his teeth and washed it down with a swig of coffee. It was not a good mix.

"What are you talking about?" Penguin laughed nervously. "Why wouldn't I come to an auction on a beautiful fine day like this when everyone else is off getting mimosas?"

"Because you're scared Captain will judge you," answered Bepo, whiskers twitching. His pointy teeth were stained with blue raspberry.

"It was a rhetorical question, Bepo."

"Oh. You know, I had a hunch it was rhetorical but I wasn't really sure. So I answered anyway."

"Well, you were wrong," huffed Penguin. "I only came because Captain may need back-up and I didn't think a fluffy polar bear would be enough."

"My fluffiness only gives me strength!"

Law intervened before the useless spat became something equally useless but potentially violent. "You came because you were worried I'd make a purchase?"

Penguin adjusted his hat, a tic of nerves that Law had long pointed out to him in hopes that he'd suppress it. It made beating him in poker painfully easy.

"No, nothing like that…"

Law didn't look away from the stage. "Don't worry. Even I wouldn't stoop that low."

The words rang false, and everyone involved knew it. When it came to the spectrum of human decency, Law ranked in the lower limits of normal for pirates: not as obscenely heroic as Strawhat Luffy, but not as ruthlessly destructive as Eustass Kidd. The Heart Pirates prided themselves in measured chaos, calculated investments with ensured return. Coming from North Blue, a single mistake, regardless whether it was made from pride or valor, was fatal. Law did not intend for his journey to end simply because he wanted to satisfy his own ego. Still, he was not above making a purchase if someone peculiar caught his eye, or could even be ransomed by their original family for a substantial monetary reward.

The Heart Pirates sat in the last row of the outdoors auction. Despite the town square being crowded to the point where stragglers were forced to stand on the sidelines, the pirates' pew was fairly roomy, with a healthy two-meter empty span on either side of them. Passersby cast furtive glances in their direction, some even boldly pointing at Bepo, but Law paid them no mind. He was not hiding, and if some poor fool recognized him from his bounty posters and reported him to the Marines in hopes of earning a hundred-fifty million beli, Law had no problem leaving the slaving island. They were ready to set early that morning, and it was only because Law wanted to attend the auction that the Polar Tang was still anchored in the port.

Tether Island was a relatively small slaving island in the southern most part of North Blue, one that Law wouldn't have bothered visiting if it weren't on the route to Reverse Mountain. Compared to the other auctions that Law had witnessed, Tether's sales were boring, mostly victims sold by poor parents to pay off a debt or the occasional prisoner of war. When Law glanced through the items list, he counted only one fighter of any caliber and no tradesmen. Even North Blue auctions had the occasional freak, someone who was part-giant or beast. Law could not help being disappointed. Such a low-tier slaving port would not yield any leads that he did not already have.

The auctioneer was a plump, garishly dressed man with a monocle and impressive mustache. He wiped away the sweat on his forehead, moving his toupee slightly, as he proceeded down the list of sales.

"Thank you for your patience! As we wrap up today's listings, our final item is a real deal: a beautiful, eighteen-year-old flower all the way from South Blue! You can use her as a maid or cook, or she can help take care of your kids during the day, and at night…well, she can take care of you." The auctioneer winked, and the crowd laughed weakly. "We can confirm that our beautiful flower has never known the touch of any man, and so you can train her as you see fit! Now, bring her out!"

There was a smattering of applause as the auctioneer's assistant, a tall, tan woman dressed entirely in black, led the slave out onto the stage by her chains. The young woman who was about to be sold was shaking so hard that she took a substantial amount of time to walk to the stage's center. The assistant tugged at the chains impatiently, urging her along, and the woman tripped over the chains trapping her feet.

"Look at what a beauty she is!" The auctioneer wrapped his oily hand under her chin and pulled her face upward so that the crowd could get a better look. She was young, likely younger than eighteen, with limp mousy brown hair, hazel eyes, and freckles. Tears streamed down her face and she was whispering something under her breath—a wish, plea, or prayer to a god that did not exist, or better yet, did not care. Law watched her impassively, reminded not for the first time that the weak were not afforded the luxury of choice.

"She's a kid." Penguin's voice was completely flat, devoid of any emotion.

"They normally are," replied Law.

"Now, let's start the bidding! We begin with fifty thousand beli! Any takers?"

A host of hands raised their placards, some eagerly, others with the resignation of those who have accepted the blackest of their sins as an incurable fault. Disinterested, Law stood up, and his men immediately followed suit.

"Pen, go find the others and ready the ship," the captain said. "Bepo, you're with me."

"Aye," said Bepo. "Where are we going?"

Law fit his cap over his forehead snugly. "We're going to pay the auctioneer a visit."

The Heart Pirates left the town square. Out in the distance, the auctioneer's voice raised to an overwrought treble over the clamors of the crowd.

"We have two hundred, two-fifteen! Two-fifty, three hundred, yes, three hundred! Going once, going twice…three hundred thousand beli! Sold, to the gentleman in the red hat!"

* * *

The auctioneer lived in the largest building in Barracks Square. For a mansion, it was not incredibly impressive. Though it towered over its neighbors, it had the look of a building considered grand decades ago but was now in severe need of a fresh coat of paint and repairs to its cracked windows and limp porch swing. It clearly required upkeep that the owner was unwilling to provide, a sign of a man who yearned for grandeur but had no idea how to maintain it.

After stopping at a café for an iced coffee (the temperature had risen to a balmy seventeen degrees), Law and Bepo invited themselves into the auctioneer's home without ringing the doorbell. Inside was no different from what the mansion's exterior promised. Grimy portraits hung on the walls, and dust bunnies collected in the corners of the halls, wrapped around moth balls, the fatal toys of the occasional mouse.

"Is anyone home?" Law asked Bepo.

Bepo sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, upstairs. Think it's a study. Smells like a bunch of old books."

"The auctioneer?"

"And someone else too."

The Hearts ascended the spiral staircase, each step eliciting a groan from the rotting wood. As they neared the study, bits and pieces of a conversation came into earshot.

"Highest bid being three hundred thousand—this place has gone to the dogs," the auctioneer complained. "Even five years ago, we were selling all sorts of exotic things, and now our final showpiece is an ugly virgin."

"For shame," replied a woman with the tone of one accustomed to nonsensically agreeing with whatever was told her.

"I'm telling you, the slave trade's all about dried up here. The Grand Line, that's where the real money is. Back in the good ol' days, my biggest sale was an infant giant who weighed thirty pounds a birth! Got over a million beli off of it. Best day of my life. I had a friend who sold some freak Devil's Fruit user for over three million beli. That's the dream."

"Certainly. Mister Price, I believe we have some guests outside."

"What? Who?"

"I'm not sure," she answered pleasantly. "Let me check for you."

The door pulled open, revealing the woman in black. She wore sunglasses on indoors. She gave them a practiced smile, (A-plus for customer service), unperturbed by the unexplained visit.

"Why, hello there. Please, come in. Mister Price was just finishing things up. I'll be outside if you need anything, sir."

She slipped out beside Bepo, wisely removing herself from a situation that Law was certain would end messily. The pirates entered the study, a long, narrow room that felt more like a truncated corridor than a proper study. It was cluttered and dirty, just like the rest of the mansion. Books and binders were strewn over the floor and stacked without any organization on the bookshelves. A desk, the only piece of furniture other than the bookshelves, was at the furthest wall from the entrance. The rotund auctioneer sat behind it, his pudgy hands folded in front of him.

"Who the blazes are you?" Mister Price demanded. "You can't just come into my home like that unannounced."

Law ignored him and examined the binders lining the walls. Account records, sales histories, changes in market prices…some binders dated back decades. Perhaps he shouldn't have judged Tether Island so harshly. For how inept Price appeared, he was a meticulous record-keeper.

"Answer me!" Price roared, now standing up. He was significantly shorter than his assistant. "Who are you?"

"Please be quiet," said Bepo. "Captain's concentrating."

"Holy smokes, it's a bear! It talks!"

"He," corrected Law over Bepo's apology. "He's not an it, though as a slaver, I'm sure you're used to reducing most people to objects."

Price's beady eyes bulged out of his head. "Who're you? Get outta my house, you brat!"

"My name is Trafalgar Law," answered Law, running his fingers along the spines of several binders and pulling one dated ten years ago off the shelf. For some reason, records in the time frame Law was interested in were sparse, as if someone had already pulled them away. "I'm a pirate."

"Yer a pirate?" In his agitation, Price's polished speech was devolving into a local dialect. Law recognized it from a small archipelago in the eastern part of North Blue. "Wait, Trafalgar, y'say? I heard o' you…" He squinted in Law's direction. "Yer that surgeon! I heard o' you, choppin' people up into mincemeat and eatin' them—"  
"That's misinformed," said Law dryly, "I don't eat them. Bepo does."

Bepo showed off his rows and rows of shiny, sharp teeth. Price's irritation melted into terror.

"W-What d'you want from m-me?"

"Just some information." Law pulled several other folders off the shelves. "I want to know the identities of your sellers."

"T-that's classified! I can't give 'em up—I'll lose all credibility as an auctioneer!"

"Better than losing your life. Bepo will eat you alive. He says the meat tastes better when it's fresh and screaming."

Price's face had gone waxy. "I got lots o' sellers! I can't possibly keep track o' em all!"

"Really?" Law pointed to the shelves. "These are extensive."

"G-give me a lil more information 'bout what y-you're lookin' for."

"Any extraordinary sales that you've had over the last ten years," the pirate answered. "The slaves and their sellers."

"Fine." The auctioneer rubbed his mustache nervously. "B-but I should warn you, many of those r-records are missing."

Law frowned. "Why? They should be more recent than some of the listings you have here."

"I lost them in the move to this island."

Law felt his temper rising. He was wasting his time with Price and this worthless island. He was tired of North Blue and its triviality; the fear he'd felt at the start of his journey as a child had long withered into a bored resignation. Tether Island was just another confirmation that Law's appetite for danger had whet into a monster North Blue could no longer contain. It was time to enter the Grand Line.

"Is everything you have in this room?" said Law. He extended his hand out to Bepo, who placed his nodachi into his palm. Price watched the exchange, increasingly diaphoretic.

"Y-yes, e-everything I own is here! P-please don't hurt me! I-I can pay you, just name yer price!"

"Not everyone can be bought and sold, Mister Price."

Law gestured to Bepo, and the polar bear advanced on the auctioneer. Price whimpered and pushed his chair back, only to hit the wall. Law resumed his scrutiny of the bookshelves. The smell of iron and flashes of blood filled the room, complemented by the sound of bones cracking and Price's screams. Over Bepo's reassurances of "Stop squirming, it'll be easier if you just sat there and let me kill you," Law found himself disappointed in the afternoon. It was always a mistake to allow his hopes to rise.

* * *

Bepo burped loudly as the two of them headed back to the Polar Tang.

"Did he taste better than he looked?"

Bepo sipped on his soda. "I didn't eat him, Captain! You need to stop saying that to people, it perpetuates the wrong idea. I only eat fish!"

"You bit him," Law pointed out. "You still tasted him."

"That's true," the bear admitted. "It was bad. Most humans are, but he was extra greasy."

"Maybe he would've been better deep-fried. We could try that next time."

Bepo wrinkled his nose. "No thanks."

He reshuffled the large cardboard box full of files in his hold and hoisted it over his shoulder. The box was only minimally splattered with blood, unlike the rest of Bepo's boiler suit, but the red didn't show up as strikingly against the orange. When it came to hiding blood, Bepo's choice of uniform color did a better job, but the rest of the crew refused point-blank to wear something so bright and ugly. Truthfully, the pale lilac boiler suits were no better, but Law decided the wardrobe discussion was a battle he didn't have any stakes in.

"Think there's anything good in here?"

"No," said Law. "It's probably all worthless, but I'm out of leads. We're just doing our due diligence, but I don't think North Blue has anything left to offer us."

"Grand Line time?!" Bepo said excitedly.

"Grand Line time," repeated Law.

The Polar Tang came into view, surrounded by a sea of pale uniforms. Tokan and Uni loaded what looked like the final crate of supplies on board, and on the crow's nest, Ikkaku peered out to sea through binoculars. A group of three men stood aimlessly in front of the submarine, chatting with a stranger. Penguin, the first-mate, spoke rapidly with a blush on his cheeks, while Shachi, his red-headed best friend and the Hearts' engineer, gesticulated stupidly with his hands. Clione, the cook, nodded eagerly along with whatever Penguin was saying.

Upon spotting Law and Bepo's return, Clione waved at them, his eggplant hat bobbing in the wind.

"Cap'n! Welcome back!"

Law nodded silently. Shachi and Penguin turned to him excitedly, eyes shining with the light of female attention.

"Look, Captain! This beautiful lady wants to join our crew!"

"Can she, please, please please—s"

"Not join, necessarily," said the stranger, eyes winking as she smiled. "Just hitch a ride."

She was now wearing a black felt hat in addition to her pre-existing all black ensemble, sunglasses included, but Law recognized her as Price's assistant. Law frowned at the sight of her. She had a thin, reedy build, with skin the color of perfectly baked bread and jet black hair that was severely straightened, ending in a sharp asymmetric edge at her shoulders. She smiled at him, that same, measured smile that she'd greeted them with back in Price's study. It made Law wary.

"Hello, Mister Trafalgar Law," she said. "My name is Everly Jade."

"Miss Jade came up to us and asked to join our crew!" Shachi said excitedly. "Wouldn't that be cool?"

"So cool," Penguin echoed.

Law glared at his first-mate. "You don't recognize her?"

"What?"

"She was at the auction," said Law. "She's the auctioneer's assistant. A slaver."

Penguin's eyes widened and both he and Shachi took a step back from Jade. "Oh, shit…you're right. I totally didn't realize!"

"Because you're blind when it comes to women," said Bepo. "You told me before, all you see are boobs and butts."

"S-shut up, Bepo!"

Law turned to the slaver. "Miss Everly, the only people who board my ship are crewmates and temporary vessels for future organ harvests. Unless you're willing to donate all your organs, I'm not sure what you want from us, but we're in a hurry."

"So am I," she replied, her expression unchanged despite Law's brusqueness. "I was just telling Mister Penguin that I'd like to board your ship."

"What the hell for?"

"Well, thanks to you, my employer is…indisposed." She had a creepy smile, and it took Law a moment to realize that it was because she didn't show her teeth. "So I'm out of a job. I was hoping I could tag along with you. Your men said you're aiming for the Grand Line?"

"Why would you think I'd give free passage to a slaver," he said coolly.

"You're a pirate," she said pointedly. "A bit rich to be judging my occupation, mm?"

"One's a lifestyle. The other's a choice." Law's lips curled in disgust. "Get out of my sight."

Law brushed past her to board his ship, but she grabbed his arm in a surprisingly firm grip to stop him. Immediately, Law snatched her wrist and moved to pin her arm behind her back, but she twisted around so fluidly it looked like she didn't have a spine, and then brought a small knife up to Law's neck. Before it touched skin, Law had her other wrist grabbed too, holding the blade at a distance.

"Oh, not too bad," she said, still smiling. "Good reaction time. I shouldn't have expected anything less from a man worth one-hundred-fifty million beli."

Law pushed her away, eyes narrowed. "You know who I am."

"Of course," said Jade, massaging her wrist. "You're famous in North Blue. Just because Mister Price is an antiquated mammoth doesn't mean we all are."

"Then you should know how stupid it is to piss me off."

"I haven't even done anything!" she said, mockingly aghast. "I'm just asking for a ride, all right? I can pay you for the trip."

"Slavers. You're all the same, thinking money can buy your passage in life. You could sell me your soul and I'd still leave you rotting in hell."

"Well, that's just silly when my soul is worth oh-so-very-little," she said with a careless wave. "I'm not offering you money, I know that's too boring for you. You wanted records from Price. I have those." She gestured to the substantial canvas bag at her feet, bulging oddly with papers and unspecified objects. "If you give me safe passage, I'll give these to you."

"Price said he'd lost them in a move."

" _I_ lost them for him." For the first time, her voice had an edge of pride. "I needed some information from them, so I told him they'd been misplaced."

It was becoming blatantly obvious who had truly run the slaver's trade in Tether Island. Law glanced down at the bulging bag and then up at Jade's face, where her crimson-painted lips were still curled upward in a perfect smile. Didn't her muscles hurt from keeping her face that way?

"What makes you think I won't just kill you and take the records for myself?"

"They're in code," she answered easily, as if she'd anticipated this question. "Once you get me where I want to go, I'll translate them for you, and you'll never have to see me again."

"No." Law turned to leave, and his men followed suit. "I don't need a slaver contaminating my ship."

"Oh, come on," protested Jade. "I'll be so quiet you won't even remember I'm there! I'll be a barnacle, just floating along with you guys!"

"We remove all barnacles promptly," announced Shachi.

"Because they're gross," agreed Clione.

"Like slavers," added Bepo.

Behind her sunglasses, Jade was most definitely rolling her eyes. "I can't believe I'm arguing about morality with _pirates_. You guys think you're so pure—it's cute. Remember that girl we sold today? She was the latest shipment from Courter's Port."

The Hearts except for Law stiffened collectively.

"Sound familiar?" said Jade cheerily. "Two months ago, the Heart Pirates clashed with Marines in Courter's Port and left the island in chaos. Marines declared it untenable, and the island lost all protection from lesser pirates that plundered it after. You think that girl was a virgin? Give me a fucking break. You guys sold her just as much as I did."

The Hearts shifted uncomfortably on their feet, but Law was unfazed.

"I have no interest in your false platitudes, Miss Everly," he said. "If you think guilt-tripping pirates will aid your cause, you'll be begging until Mariejois falls. Do not blame us for your fake moral equivalences. The weak don't get to choose how they die."

Law began to ascend the gangplank aboard the Polar Tang when, in a clear last-ditch effort to keep Law's attention, Jade called out,

"I'm looking for a man named Joker."

Law froze. Slowly, he turned around, to find Jade smiling up at him, this time with a bit more effort.

"How do you know that name?" he asked.

"If you don't ask me how, I'll do you the same courtesy. But I guarantee you that I know more about the slave trade than anyone else in North Blue. I think we can help each other out. Get me to Sabaondy Archipelago, and I'll tell you what I know about him."

Law wished she'd remove her sunglasses. There was something unnerving about staring back into his own reflection, and it brought back memories of looking into the face of his mortal enemy and not seeing anything except his own hateful face.

He wanted nothing to do with a slaver, much less one who was clearly so manipulative that she'd slipped past his radar in his initial assessment. She rang of danger, a snake who would strike at the surest sign of weakness. He did not trust her around his men.

But she knew about Joker.

It wasn't even a choice he struggled to make.

"Barnacle," he said tonelessly.

Jade's smile smoothed out.

"Barnacle," she reassured him.

Law resumed his trek back to his ship.

"Put her in a cell," Law ordered his men. "Any suspicious movements and you're free to kill her."

"I promise you," she said sweetly, "that won't be necessary."

Law ignored her and entered the Polar Tang. Behind him, his men escorted Everly Jade to the depths of the submarine where the cells were located, and he knew she was smiling all the while. He could not shake the feeling that he was making a mistake, but he steeled himself.

He chose not to remember what had happened the last time he'd made a deal with a devil in sunglasses.


	2. barnacles are parasites

**chapter 2: barnacles are parasites**

* * *

 _fact_ : _barnacles have no true heart._

* * *

Jade had never sailed aboard a submarine before. When she was in her teens, she had spent several months aboard a rickety fishing boat and found the experience of sailing entirely unpleasant. The other times she'd been at sea, she'd been transported against her will and was consequently unconscious, but having no memory of those times, she didn't count those as real experiences.

The submarine she was on was a surprisingly beautiful vessel on the inside, even though she was barred from most parts of it. The pirates practically forced her to stay in her cell for most of the day, and the only other areas she was allowed to explore were the bathroom and the narrow corridor to the mess hall. She wasn't even allowed to sit in the dining area—not without the severe judgment of the crew, anyway—so she'd just quietly pick up any food they had left and patter back to her cell to eat alone. It didn't bother her. Jade was used to being alone, and making small talk with pirates seemed unnecessary.

Her cell was small, windowless, and unfurnished besides a straw mattress that she wished provided more buffer between her and the cold steel floor. The only decoration were chains and handcuffs fastened to the wall. Jade examined them, guessing they were made of Kairouseki by the color and shine of the silver, which glinted green (Kairouseki was rare, and the cuffs of a fairly high grade. Typically only Marines had this brand of handcuffs, meaning Law had stolen them from Marines unwise enough to challenge him, which also suggested that Law was a Devil's Fruit user, but she couldn't be sure.) Luckily she'd brought several heat-tech jackets in her luggage, but the temperature in the vessel was difficult to regulate: sometimes it got unbearably stuffy, other times bitingly chilly, and so she was always putting on the jacket and taking it off after waking up sweating.

Still, she found the Polar Tang astonishingly to her liking, despite its multiple shortcomings. The sounds of the deep sea could be terrifying, and no one on the crew wanted to talk to her, but once in a while, Jade got the chance to peer through a window into the world of the ocean, and it was incredible. Fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors flitted by in schools. Occasionally a Sea King would barrel towards them, its horrifying jaw open and ready to devour the vessel, only to be blasted back by a torpedo. (The pirates really wasted a lot of torpedoes and fuel fighting Sea Kings. Their greenery was showing: didn't they know that Kairouseki repelled Sea Kings? It was advice Jade would offer later if it proved beneficial to her.) Once, right after the Polar Tang dove back underwater, a rainbow-dolphin came up to her window and prodded its nose curiously against the glass. It made Jade smile more than she normally did. The open sea was a fascinating place, and she'd never have gotten the chance to see if she hadn't struck a deal with a morbid, quack-of-a-doctor pirate captain whose eye bags transcended his age. If she died now, chopped into little pieces and fed to the polar bear and the rest of his crew, she wouldn't regret it. Some experiences were just worth the risk.

Which wasn't to say that Jade didn't find Trafalgar Law absolutely positively scary, because she did. She was just really, really good at hiding when she was scared, because she was scared for most of her life, and she had long learned that showing fear never helped her situation. Better to fake bravery and hope the source of her fear let down its guard so she could stab it in the neck. It worked maybe thirty percent of the time.

Thankfully, Law typically left her alone. It was as if Jade were a ghost on his ship, or an annoying mouse that asked for food once in a while. (That was silly. The Polar Tang was pristine, there were no mice, probably because the polar bear ate them). Even when Jade was present, Law referred to her in the third person, and not even by her name.

"Is the barnacle causing any trouble?" Law asked the second day they'd set sail from Tether Island.

"What barnacle?" said the puzzled redheaded pirate with sunglasses so fabulous they could give Jade's a run for her money.

"Exactly," answered Law in a toneless voice. It was only when the rest of the crew chuckled that Jade realized he'd been making a joke.

"I'm fine," she said brightly and probably stupidly. "Just minding my own business, staying in my cell, you know."

Law walked straight past her without even glancing her way, up the ladder back to his quarters. The captain's quarters were located on the topmost deck of the triple-deck submarine, far away from Jade's cell in the lowest deck. Because she was never allowed to ascend past the middle deck, where the mess hall and communal bathrooms were, she had no idea what Law did on the topmost deck, or what his quarters looked like. She was curious, but her imagination filled in the blank spaces for her. Surely his room was decorated with all sorts of antiquated torture devices, the occasional brain sitting in juice, or even an embalmed human head. He was an absolutely fascinating guy. He had a glare that could kill men with a single glance, but his colorful attire blunted the effect. He despised her, but not in an overly emotional way. He despised her occupation because he was morally obligated to, but he did so in a half-hearted, couldn't-be-bothered sort of way, as if he couldn't muster up enough effort to properly hate her. Or maybe he was so morally gray anyway that he just found her presence aboard his ship a total nuisance, and feeling any extra sort of way toward her was just brain space he wasn't willing to spare.

Probably the latter.

Either way, Jade stayed out of Law's way and never attempted to explore the top deck. She did, however, study the work habits of everyone else in his crew. They never let her near the control or communication rooms, much less the weapons control system, but the benefit of being treated like a barnacle was that sometimes, Jade was just as unassuming as the ugly crustacean. She noted that the Heart Pirates worked on twelve-hour shifts, with shift changes to the communications room occurring at midnight and noon. It seemed that the constant flopping between day and night shifts led to some pirates adjusting better than others. Eggplant Hat seemed to really need a cigarette every three hours when he was on night shift, so he'd sometimes slip away from all the combustibles to bum a smoke in his quarters. There was only one person on at night shift. Jade thought that was an oversight. Shit always happened at night.

It wasn't until two weeks after they'd left Tether Island that she tried to overstep her boundaries. It was just one transmission to the surface, made in the dead of the night. She would've gotten away with it had anyone else been captain of the ship, but no, she was aboard the Polar Tang, and nothing, not even a barnacle, could make a move without Trafalgar Law knowing.

* * *

The new addition to the Polar Tang was supposed to be mysterious, fascinating, the long-lost lead to Joker that Law had searched for a near decade. People who knew that name were few and far between, especially out in North Blue. Surely Jade was the clue that Law had waited for for so long, the one that he deserved after going to auction after auction, after reviewing thousands of records and climbing over the corpses of countless slavers.

Instead, Everly Jade was as boring as an actual barnacle. Though Law acted as if Jade did not exist when he was physically in the same space as her, through the surveillance Den-Den Mushi, Law watched Jade every moment he could. Just from their initial interactions, he hadn't expected her to be overt and stupid, but the woman's commitment to be entirely uninspiring was commendable. She was a well-oiled machine, waking up every day precisely at six o'clock even though she set no alarm and the cell had no windows. On the days the submarine surfaced, she'd ascend to receive a copy of the World News from the news gull and read it along with a cup of coffee. When the rest of the men would join, she'd retreat back to her cell alone, and then in the supposed privacy of her own quarters, she'd just continue reading the news. And by reading the news, she _really read_ the news. While most people glanced over the headliners, and people like Law at least read the articles carefully, Jade read the _Finance_ section. She _read numbers_.

The only thing worse than reading numbers than watching someone reading numbers. She was perfectly poised, as if she knew Law was watching her every move (which he was, but he did not appreciate people knowing he was sneaking around when he was trying to hide it). She never took off her sunglasses, even when she was sleeping. The first thing she did each morning was reapply her crimson lipstick. She went through the day with practiced regimen, reading the papers, making charts, making dog-ears in the novels she'd brought with her in her satchel bag. This went on for hours, and Jade went through entire days without a single word being said to her. It was akin to a prisoner in solitary confinement, and any sane person would have gone, well insane. But Jade's casual humming in the confines of her own room and her disregarded need for any social interaction pointed to a questionable frame of mind.

A lesser man would have dismissed her as a mistake, an investment that didn't pay off. Law was not a lesser man. He was patient, a century-old tortoise without the languor, and he waited with determined diligence because he was certain Jade would slip up. Day after day, she didn't. Until the day she did.

Law watched the surveillance Mushi throughout the night, every night. His crewmates thought he was crazy, obsessively watching the live footage when everyone else was sleeping, including their prisoner guest. Jade's routine at night was equally consistent. Without any alarm or other external trigger, she woke up every night ten minutes before three o'clock and went to the bathroom, where she always stayed for precisely twenty minutes. It happened without fail every night, making Law think that she had some kind of irritable bowel syndrome. But on the thirteenth day since sailing from Tether Island, between Law's eighth and tenth cup of coffee, when his mind was buzzing and his eyes dry from not blinking, Jade woke up from sleep. A candle flame illuminated the cell, casting eerie shadows on the wall, and Jade sat up with her lamp. Law's red-rimmed eyes burned, but he did not turn his gaze away.

She left her cell, and Law panned out of the surveillance footage to follow her out into the hallway. She ascended the ladder to the mid-deck and then entered the lavatory. For obvious reasons, Law did not have surveillance cameras installed in the bathrooms, though he wish he had. He watched the door to the bathroom for twenty minutes. He expected her to emerge after twenty minutes, like clockwork, but today, she didn't.

Law frowned. Maybe she had ate something wrong at dinner. Clione had experimented with a new chili recipe he'd fished from Courter's Port, but at two weeks out at sea, the quality of their remaining meat was questionable.

Still, Law did not survive by giving people the benefit out of the doubt. Twenty-five minutes after Jade had entered the bathroom, Law Roomed himself to the lower floor. He was right about to barge in unannounced when finally the lavatory door opened and Jade strolled out, lips painted sharply, sunglasses gleaming in the lamplight.

She nearly ran into him and yelped like a cat whose tail he'd stepped on.

"Captain Trafalgar!"

"What were you doing?" he asked like it was perfectly normal to ambush people after they'd relieved themselves.

"I was…using the toilet," said Jade, recovering herself. "As people do when they're coming out of the restroom, Captain Trafalgar."

"You were in there for twenty-five minutes. Longer than normal."

Jade smiled. "You watch me go to the bathroom every night?"

Law stared at her in stony silence.

"I just go number two every night. The way my bowels work, I guess! You know it's a sign I'm healthy to be so regular."

"What was different about tonight?"

"Oh dear, Captain Trafalgar. You'll make me blush. Would you like the details of my bathroom activities?"

Law didn't answer, and Jade's smile grew wider, enough that he saw a hint of teeth. One of her canines was chipped.

"If you don't have any other questions, I'd love to go back to bed, freed of my bowel movements," she said pleasantly.

She brushed past him, her movements eerily fluid as she avoided any bodily contact with him. She was almost at the ladder when Law stopped her.

"Miss Everly, you know what will happen when I find out what you've done."

"Oh, I do. Decapitation, run me through with your sword, feed me to your bear, any of those things," she said, happy as a clam. "Will you at least let me choose?"

She waved and disappeared down the ladder. Law stared after her, irritated, and went inside the privy. He looked around. There was no foul odor, no sign of an abused toilet or urinal. His persistent frown deepened. The bathroom looked completely normal. The sinks weren't dripping, the toilet wasn't running. Cold air started blowing out of the vents.

The vents. One of the vents was crooked.

Law balanced himself carefully on a toilet seat to study the crooked vent. The vents were larger than average in the bathroom to allow for better aeration—large enough for someone thin to slide in. The lower right screw was loose.

The door to the bathroom opened, and a yawning Shachi wandered in. The redhead stopped when he saw Law, perched thoughtfully on the toilet seat.

"Cap'n? Whatcha up to? That a new way to piss?"

"Don't be ridiculous." He hopped off the toilet. "Where does this vent connect to?"

"The vent?"

"Yes," Law said impatiently. "Which room does it connect to?"

"Well, everywhere." Shachi scratched his head. "Weapons room, communications, all of 'em."

"Fuck."

"Something wrong?"

"The barnacle's doing something. They're parasites, after all."

"They're actually not," Shachi said brightly. "Their relationship to whales is more commensalism than parasitism. Barnacles don't do anything other than stick on the sides of smooth surfaces and eat."

"They eat the whales."

"Not…really…the whales are so big they don't really undergo any significant harm, hence—"

"It can happen, I read a case report once," snapped Law. "She's up to something. She was in here for five extra minutes today."

"You time how long it takes for her to go number two?"

Law was the type to get excessively fixated on something or someone, and he could always tell how far he'd strayed away from sanity by how much his men were willing to challenge him. Shachi opened his mouth to say something else, but Law glared at him, and he shut it promptly. Good, Law wasn't being too ridiculous yet.

Law made his way to the exit. "Crew meeting first thing in the morning."

Shachi did not protest. "Aye-aye."

The captain of the Heart Pirates returned to his room and sat at his desk. The surveillance Den-Den Mushi placed Jade back in her cell, sleeping peacefully, with her lips locked in a smile reminiscent of risus sardonicus. Her sunglasses were still on.

He intended to uncover every treachery Jade harbored behind that practiced smile of hers, down to the why's and how's of Joker. After he did, he intended to tie her down, take off her sunglasses, and watch the look in her eyes as he crushed them in his fist before proceeding to remove her toes, one by one.

* * *

"Order in the court!" Bepo shouted over the hungry mass of pirates lined up for breakfast.

"This ain't a fuckin' court you fluffy ass, give me my grub and let me start my day."

"I was on night shift!" Penguin shoved Takon out of the way. "I get priority!"

Ikkaku held her bowl insistently out in front of Bepo, who was guarding the porridge Clione had prepared in the slow cooker the night before. "Feed me. _Now_."

There was the unmistakable cock of a gun, and the Hearts scuttled out of Ikkaku's way. Penguin leaned over to Shachi and whispered none-too-quietly, "Damn, she's angry. Think it's that time of—"

Ikkaku pointed her gun at Penguin's face. "Don't you fucking finish that sentence."

"I-I'm just saying—"

"I just finished pulling a twenty-four hour navigation session to cover your weak ass and haven't eaten since lunch yesterday so fuck off. Bepo, food!"

"No one gets any food until we have a meeting first," Law said from the corner of the room.

The clamor immediately died down and the Hearts faced their captain, who looked in desperate need of a shower and a nap. Law rubbed his eyes, and crust fell out of his eyelashes.

"Who was on which night shift last night?"

"Communication," yawned Clione.

"Weapons," said Shachi.

"Navigation," said Ikkaku. "Me and Bepo. Was supposed to be Pen, but he got explosive diarrhea from dinner last night—"

"It wasn't explosive!"

"So I covered for him," continued Ikkaku, ignoring him.

"Why?" Bepo asked Law. "Somethin' happen?"

"Did anyone step away from their stations around three o'clock?" said Law.

Clione and Shachi raised their hands.

"Ran into you in the toilet," Shachi reminded him.

"You came straight from the weapons room?"

"Nah, stopped by the mess to grab a snack."

"How long were you gone from your post in total?"

"Ten minutes, tops."

Law turned to his chef. "What about you, Clione?"

Clione shifted uneasily. "Yeah, I went to bum a smoke."

Law's eyes narrowed. "How long were you gone?"

"Bout fifteen minutes," muttered Clione.

Law's voice dropped to a lower, lethal register. "Really."

The crew collectively gulped, and Clione paled.

"M-maybe it was closer to twenty, twenty-five…"

"You took a twenty-five minute break on a night shift when we have an unidentified hostile onboard?" snarled Law.

"I wouldn't call me hostile." The mess hall's doors swung open and Jade waved as she made her entrance, like she was a princess. "What's going on? You guys are usually done with breakfast by now. I was hoping I could scrape some of the leftovers…"

"What were you doing in the communications room last night?" demanded Law.

Jade's mouth formed a little "O" in surprise.

"Communications room? I've never been in there. I'm not really allowed anywhere other than here, the lavatory, and the hallways that connect those two rooms to my cell. Is this about last night, Captain Trafalgar? I told you, I'm just a really regular person."

"You were gone for longer than normal."

Jade laughed, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I didn't want to say anything because your chef is really great otherwise, but yesterday's dinner didn't really sit well with me. Did anyone else have, um, how do I put this delicately…"

"Diarrhea?" Penguin volunteered in a tone that suggested he found great camaraderie in this shared experience. Ikkaku bonked him on the head to shut him up.

Jade snapped her fingers in recognition of the word she'd been too delicate to say. "Yes, that. That happened, and it wasn't great."

"One of the vents was crooked," Law said coldly. "Do not treat me like I'm Mister Price. You'll find that I'm much less amenable to lying."

The atmosphere in the hall turned frosty. Law's patience was wearing thin, be it due to his sleep deprivation or his utter lack of appreciation for Jade's unfailing smile.

"Captain Trafalgar," Jade said, "you promised me safe passage, and I promised you no foul play. Excluding the loose bowel movements, of course. What would I be doing in the communications room? I have no family and no friends. There is no one I could communicate with, much less want to."

"Then who will you be meeting on Shabondy Archipelago?"

"No one in particular," she shrugged. "I'm an unemployed slaver in North Blue, where slavery is growing increasingly unpopular. Might as well go where the real money is."

Everly Jade had the curious ability to appear entirely benign with readied, reasonable answers that even Law was tempted to buy into. But the only people allowed to board the Polar Tang (sans the organ donors) were extraordinary in their own ways, and Jade's limited extraordinariness resided in her knowledge of the mere name Joker and what it meant. It was the only reason Jade was breathing, alive, and in one piece when Law wanted nothing better than to dig out her kidney and sell it. Jade was comfortable, and Law wanted her to writhe in fear.

"Room."

A pale blue surrounded the hall. Jade's body tensed immediately, prepared to retaliate, but there was no use. Law's Room extended far beyond the boundary of mess hall, and anything in the blue dome was under his control. He snapped his fingers, and Jade's sunglasses appeared in his palm.

Jade lurched back instantly, but Law had not harmed her. She covered her left eye with her hand and looked up at him. For the first time since they'd met, she was no longer smiling. Her one visible eye was as dark as her hair, but in the artificial lighting of the submarine, flashed red in fear.

"If your purpose was just to hitch a ride to Shabondy, then you're a fool for choosing a pirate ship. Something tells me that you're not a fool." Law approached her slowly. A primal heat in his blood rushed as Jade backed away, the proper behavior of cornered prey that knew they were not in the position to ask for anything other than mercy. "Your mistake is assuming I am. You think that you have me in the palm of your hand because you have information I want. But I want you to know how much danger you are in being aboard this ship, Miss Everly. "

Jade had retreated to the point of no escape. Her back hit the wall, and she looked at him, red lips set into a firm line. Law reached for the hand covering her left eye, and Jade struck out at him with her free hand. He caught her other arm easily and pinned it down by her waist, taking his time as he pried the hand guarding her eye away. She struggled fruitlessly, but like a rabbit caught in a trap, her resistance gave way to surrender, and Law revealed her left eye.

Or rather, the lack of it.

Two scars, crisscrossed in an X, placed a neat target over Jade's left eye. The once delicate skin of the eyelid had hypertrophied into ridges that contracted the skin grotesquely. It did not require a doctor to know that her eye was useless, either removed completely or deformed beyond utility, and the scars clenched the eyelid closed, a stubborn gate to the slaver's most obvious weakness.

The crew watched the exchange without uttering a single word. Law let the silence linger, appreciating the sight of Jade's visible discomfort, before he set the sunglasses back on Jade's flat nose bridge.

"Never forget who's in charge here, Miss Everly. If I catch you sneaking around again, I'll pluck your other eye right out of its socket and add it to my collection."

He let her go and stepped away, pleased when he saw Jade let out a long-held breath.

"Enjoy your breakfast, Miss Everly."

He walked past her, leaving the mess, the taste of victory sweet on his tongue.

* * *

Sixteen days after leaving Tether Island, the Polar Tang arrived at Brush Summit, their final stop before entering the Grand Line. Since the confrontation in the mess hall, Jade did not behave out of the ordinary, and Law, believing he'd made his point quite effectively, stopped monitoring her personally. He assigned an additional shift for the rest of his crewmates to watch the surveillance Mushi, allowing him to turn his attention to other matters, such as the Grand Line.

Knowing Law was no longer lurking in the shadows of her every movement let Jade breathe just the slightest bit easier, even though she did not overstep her boundaries again. It was a relief that Law had shown his true colors—not that he'd really hidden them ever, but it gave Jade peace of mind knowing that Law was a pirate through and through, and pirates needed no sympathy, especially from a slaver.

The feeling of solid ground under her feet brought her more joy than she'd expected. Jade took off her shoes and stood on the beach for several minutes, letting the hot sand run through her toes and relishing the lack of swaying she'd grown accustomed to for the last several weeks. Behind her, the pirate crew scuttled around, anchoring the sub and divvying up tasks, but they paid her no mind. Jade closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The sun beat down and her clothes clung to her uncomfortably (sometimes, she regretted that her wardrobe only had black). The ends of her hair were beginning to curl in the humidity. She was due for another perm soon.

"Oi."

Jade snapped her eyes open and turned to find Shachi behind her. His face was shaded by his cap and sunglasses, and the his stubble was at the length transitioning to beard. He stood with his hands in his pockets, the picture of casual if he weren't frowning so deeply.

"Captain told me to follow you," he muttered, visibly unenthused with the role of warden.

"To where?" said Jade, bewildered.

"Dunno. Wherever you're going. Whatever you're up to."

"I'm just standing here on the beach, Mister Shachi."

"Clearly," said Shachi dully.

An awkward silence ensued, with Jade peering at him while Shachi looked determinedly past her ear.

"Were you tasked to gather any supplies?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Just to follow me," she clarified.

"Yup."

Jade ran through the strange instructions in her head, then cleared her throat.

"Shouldn't you be…hiding?" she offered. "Like following me in secret? Because now that you're following me…"

"You won't do the fishy thing you were planning on doing," finished Shachi.

"Right. And you don't want to figure out what fishy thing I'd be doing?"

"Nah," he shrugged. "I'd rather you not do it at all. We're gonna be submerged until we reach the Grand Line. If you don't do anything weird now, we're in the clear until we get to the Grand Line, where Captain's just gonna dump you somewhere anyway."

"He promised me passage until Sabaody Archipelago."

"Yeah, sure."

Jade felt the barest irritation crawl under her skin, but she bit it back with a smile.

"Very well. Happy to have your company, Mister Shachi."

"Just Shachi," he muttered.

"Okay. You can just call me Jade."

"Captain says your name is barnacle."

"Oh. I guess that works too. Barney for short?"

Shachi said something under his breath that resembled assent. The two of them set off to Brush Summit's town square in silence. Jade did not bother making small talk. Shachi had been one of the three whom she'd initially targeted as easy prey to a woman's wiles, but the general aversion to slavers seemed to have overcome Shachi's baseline interest. That, or seeing her gouged out eye.

Her skin prickled. She had not shown anyone her eye in years. She was a decently good fighter and was particularly good at protecting her face, but what was she supposed to do against a Devil's Fruit? Law had been fifteen feet away from her and her sunglasses had simply _disappeared_. What could she do against what seemed to be fucking magic?

If Law wanted to prove that he could overpower her at any moment, he'd done it well. But it did not deter Jade any from her original plan. If anything, it fueled her.

Brush Summit was an agricultural island, and its pastries were divine. They arrived in the town square, bustling with activity during the lunch hour. Jade's mouth watered at the sight of the meat kabob kiosk, and Shachi moaned in longing when they passed a confectionary stand. The slaver and pirate each purchased their respective lunches—Jade got a heavily spiced meat pie, while Shachi bought a dozen assorted cupcakes—and the two of them sat on a bench and quietly munched away. The pie's crust was warm and flaked off perfectly in her mouth. For North Blue, the meat was decently seasoned, though a tad salty, and Jade always longed for a stronger kick in the spice. By the time she'd finished her pie, Shachi had devoured all twelve of his cupcakes and burped loudly and happily. Pink frosting flecked his stubble.

They sat in silence, both thinking. Jade was thinking of how to ditch Shachi so she could go to the transmissions station, while Shachi was thinking of how Jade was thinking of how to ditch him. Since neither bothered to actually verbalize their thoughts, they seethed in difficult silence while the rest of Brush Summit went along their day, oblivious that a dangerous crew had landed in their midst despite their overt boiler suits.

The Hearts would leave in four days. Not a lot of time, especially because Jade knew she would be followed by a pirate at all times. She looked up at the sky, her sunglasses shading the worst of the sun's glare. Further along past the town square was the industrial part of the island, where the distinct metallic clang of struck anvil rang through the air. Despite its agrarian roots, Brush Summit's proximity to the Grand Line lent it a specialization in Kairouseki coating.

"You're the ship's engineer, Shachi?"

"Yeah."

When it became clear that Shachi would not continue, Jade pressed onward.

"The Polar Tang is a beautiful ship," she said. "I didn't think I'd ever say that about a submarine, but I really do like it. She runs so smoothly."

Shachi gave a little grin, like a child whose favorite toy had just been complimented. "She sure does, doesn't she?"

"Did you design her yourself?"

"Sorta. Inspired by some Marine subs, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they do medical vessels well." Shachi rubbed his chin, smearing the frosting further into his skin. "Oh, fuck."

Jade offered him her napkin, and he took it with an appreciative nod. "You're the only pirates I've heard of who prefer submarines."

"Because they're less roomy and require more upkeep than most crews are willing to put in. But they're fast and the tech can be real advanced. Works for small crews like ours."

"Sure. You know this place specializes in Kairouseki, right? You should coat your ship here."

Shachi frowned. "Here? Nah. This place is too small—we're not gonna trust a shipwright here with the Polar Tang. We'll go to Water Seven for it."

Jade hummed noncommittally, but her lack of response made Shachi wary.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You got a weird look on your face."

"It's not a big deal."

"What?" Shachi insisted.

"You still have frosting on your face." Jade reached out and brushed his chin with her index finger. Shachi jerked back, but belatedly, and Jade resumed her normal seating and licked the frosting off her finger with a small pop of lips.

Shachi's face went as red as his hair.

"Good icing," she smiled, and he went even redder.

"L-look, Captain said y-you'd do this but I'm not gonna fall for it!"

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're…you're seducing me with your evil slaver tricks, I ain't gonna—"

Jade leaned forward so that her sunglasses fell down the bridge of her nose, and Shachi got full view of both her eyes. She fluttered her one eye unabashedly.

"Fuck!" yelped Shachi, jumping up in his seat.

Jade pushed her sunglasses back properly. "What, you don't find me sexy?"

"I-I—barnacles aren't sexy!"

"What about one-eyed ones?"

"How would that be better?!"

Jade laughed and crumpled the paper wrapped around her meat pie into a tight ball. She lobbed it over Shachi's head, where it curved in a beautiful parabola and missed the trash can she'd been aiming for entirely.

"Oops," she said, squinting. "That was off." She pointed at her left eye. "I have problems with depth perception."

Shachi groaned. "Okay, I get it, you're a Cyclops!"

"That's a better nickname than barnacle."

"Yeah, well that's what we were goin' for before you became a proper noun." Shachi crushed his cupcake box into a ball and tossed it behind him with the barest glance. It landed in the trash can with a perfect thud.

"Show-off."

"You got one eye, I got eyes on the back of my head," he grinned. "Life ain't fair."

"Sure isn't," she agreed.

Shachi looked at her, expecting something that was lost on Jade completely.

"What?" she said.

"How'd it happen?"

"What? This?" She gestured at her left eye. Shachi nodded. "Oh, that's a great story. When I was a kid, I lived on this beautiful tropical island with these really demonic birds. The island was beautiful but every plant and fruit was poisonous, so the birds preyed on humans. My parents used to always tell me never to fall asleep out in the open or else the birds would carry me away and eat me, but I didn't believe them. So one day, I was just laying on the beach, minding my own business, and I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up to this giant vulture, two times the size of me, gouging out my eye and eating it! It was terrible! Can you believe it? He just ate it! I punched him in the beak and ran away as fast as I could before he could eat my other eye, screaming and crying all the way home, but I was just glad to be alive, you know? One eye was a small price to pay for my life."

She rested her hand over her heart dramatically, and Shachi just stared at her.

"What?"

"That's a real shit story."

Jade smiled. "I thought it was pretty good for a spur of the moment thing."

"Fine, you aren't gonna tell me."

She stood up and brushed the crumbs off her pants. The sun was getting to her head. She just wanted to find the nearest transmissions station and listen to messages in peace.

"Mister Shachi, barnacles have no back story."

Shachi got to his feet slowly and followed her, a faithful, lilac-colored shadow with flaming red hair.

"Nah, but Cyclops does."

* * *

Past the industrial sector of Brush Summit, in the shadows of the mountain that towered over the town, laid the sketchier part of the city where vagabonds and criminals lurked during the day. The slums of Brush Summit were in fairly decent condition, as far as slums went, because a good number of slum occupants were actually bounty hunters or slavers.

The stench of rotting meat was amplified by the heat, and flies buzzed in schools so thick that the air looked hazy. The area was completely deserted; not even beggars were out on the streets. The torn curtains in the abandoned houses shifted, either from the wind or from its wary occupants, as Law emerged from one of the houses with Bepo by his side. The Surgeon of Death was typically frowning, but looked to be in such a bad mood that all strange onlookers immediately retreated back into their homes for fear that Law's glare would manifest into laser beams that set their shacks on fire. All he wanted was to find a slaver who sold to Joker. He'd thought Brush Summit was the perfect passageway for weak pirates to be picked up and sold, a rich enough harvest site for bounty hunters and slavers alike that he'd find someone high enough on the food chain who wasn't totally useless. As established before, it was futile to have expectations of anyone or any place. Brush Summit was as as useful as a doorknob without a door.

Bepo could see how foul of a mood his captain was in. "It's okay, Captain. We're going to be in the Grand Line soon. Things are completely different out there."

"I know," said Law, tone clipped. He pushed aside the head of a bounty hunter who'd just tried to ambush them. "I also know how dangerous the Grand Line is going to be. I wanted to process any potentially new information now while we're still safe. I hate being blindsided."

Bepo arranged the corpses of his victims neatly so they spelled out DEATH. "I know. Nothing to be gained here though. Looks like most people here are bounty hunters, not slavers."

"Yeah, the barnacle mentioned that slavery was drying up in North Blue," Law noted.

"Wonder if that's the case in the Grand Line."

The captain resheathed his nodachi and beckoned for Bepo to leave. "We'll see. Don't dawdle, Bepo. We're wasting time."

"Sorry!"

The sun was setting when the two of them set back toward the main town, returning to the noise of civilization and the upbeat voice of the town's mayor booming over the loudspeakers. The work day was over, and the evening rush hour meant the streets were inundated with workers excited to return home to their families, enjoy a hot meal, and drink a cold beer while watching the highly anticipated women's scythe dancing competition (an ancient traditional art form passed down generations of Brush Summit women). The joy of society was lost on Law. He almost preferred the dead, ominous silence of the slums, where corpses weren't vocal enough to give Law a throbbing headache with the inanity of their living.

They were about to head back to the submarine when they passed the town's transmissions station, a small wooden store with a painted blue roof and a row of news-gulls shitting contentedly at its entrance. Inside were three rows of cubicles with individual Broadcast and regular communication Den-Den Mushi. Through the storefront window, Law spotted Jade and Shachi sitting in the same cubicle, both with headphones on connected to the same Broadcast Den-Den Mushi. Jade was intently taking notes of what looked like the finance channel, and Shachi was fast asleep, his mouth open in a snore and a small bubble of snot expanding with each breath.

Law slammed open the door to the station. Nearly all of its occupants jumped up and glared at him for disturbing the still quiet of the room, but when he glared back at them, they all became much more interested in their cubicles. He stalked over to Jade and Shachi and lingered behind them, his dark aura too oppressive to be ignored.

Or so he thought.

Jade did not look up at all from her notes, and Shachi continued to sleep. Bepo leaned over and tapped Shachi on the head, and the pirate woke up with a start.

"Mother of Roger and all things Whitebeard—"

Jade startled and unplugged from the Mushi. She'd bought a new pair of reflective sunglasses that were more cat-eye in shape and covered nearly half her face in a silver metallic glare. He could see his own reflection in the glass, and his expression was murderous.

"Hello."

"What are you doing?" Law said lethally.

Jade pointed to the screen in front of her. "Listening to the news. It's nothing private—Shachi's listening to the same thing I am."

Law met Shachi's eyes, and the engineer paled a bit.

"I-I was! I was just…taking a nap…"

"I tell you to follow a hostile and you fall asleep on watch?"

"I swear, Cap'n, I really tried but I don't know a thing about stocks—"

"It's really nothing serious, Captain Trafalgar," Jade stepped in quickly. "You're welcome to listen as well."

Law jerked his head to the right. Shachi scrambled out of his seat and handed his headset to Law.

"Get back to the ship," Law ordered, taking Shachi's seat. "Tell Clione to get dinner ready."

"Oh, Shachi, can you give him the peppers I bought?" Jade held out a small plastic bag full of colorful small peppers. "If he feels so inclined to use it, I'd love something spicy tonight."

"Dunno if Clione will take requests, since you got him in trouble," said Shachi dubiously.

"Worth a shot," chirped the barnacle.

"Go back too, Bepo," said Law. "We'll be back in a bit."

"Aye-aye."

The two pirates left the transmissions station, and Jade proceeded to put on her headset again. Law put on his own as well, and the monotonous audio of what had to be an eighty-year-old bespectacled woman with a fifty pack-year smoking history and an iron will to put all of her audience to a deep slumber filled his ears. No wonder Shachi had fallen asleep. Law's eyelids immediately felt as if tiny boulders had been tethered to his eyelashes as the reporter recited a long series of percentages that were broadcasted in blocky white text on screen.

"The GLQ fell four point six percent today, continuing a six-month trend of decline. The NBR280 fell thirty-four points, while the EBR781 rose fifty-seven points. Unemployment rate in North Blue remains steady at six point eight percent, and—"

Law tugged Jade's headset so that one ear was uncovered. She stiffened at the contact before turning to face him.

"Bored, Captain Trafalgar?"

"You're always reading the finance section."

She waited, expecting him to continue, but when he didn't, she smiled.

"You can ask me to explain what I'm doing, you know. I'm not exactly being secretive about it."

Law remained silent. Jade's smile broadened.

"The stock market's activity can be used to interpret economic demand and consumer patterns," she explained. "I pay attention to the finance section to get a glimpse of what's generating money in different parts of the world."

"Why?"

"Because what is considered valuable changes with time, and knowing what is valuable to certain people is important. Predicting what will be valuable to people before they even realize what they want it is even better."

He knew she was talking about him.

"Why are you looking for Joker?"

Jade made a movement as if she was about to slap her palm over his mouth, but resisted half-way. That was wise, because if she had, Law would've lopped off her wrist, no Room needed.

"You shouldn't talk about that here," she muttered. "Where there are Mushi, there are eyes."

"I am not frightened of him."

Jade turned her attention to the screen. "You should be."

Law was about to retort when Jade cut him off.

"Captain Trafalgar, I told you. Don't ask me, and I won't ask you. We don't need to know each other's motivations. This is a transaction, not a collaboration."

Law sat back in his seat. "Fine. Tell me why slavery is drying up in North Blue."

"Because it's illegal."

"It's been illegal for two hundred years. Doesn't explain the change over the last several years. Something's causing a decrease in demand or forcing a cultural change. There's been more pressure within the Marines to crack down on it, but it's been too much, too fast."

Jade nodded. "You're right. As you heard Mister Price say, the cost of slaves and the desire for them has dropped dramatically. The punishment for being a slaver has strengthened and too few people want to take that risk. But that's just North Blue, and you can see the impact in the NBR, which has been on the decline for years now. North Blue's economy has become stagnant, while EBR has grown. Slavery in East Blue is a well-established practice since the Tequila Wolf project is still in place. But the most concerning thing is the six-month fall in the GLQ. Something weird is happening in the Grand Line. Slavery's practiced in only certain islands, but it's usually well-established. A four percent decline is a steep drop, but I'm not sure what's causing it."

"You can't attribute the entire shift in the stock market to be due to slavery patterns. Human trafficking cannot be so lucrative that it impacts the economy to this degree."

Jade shook her head. "You're right, I'm projecting. But you'd be surprised. Slaves sell for much more in the Grand Line. Auctions in places like Sabaody Archipelago occur daily. Normal humans sell for a baseline of over five hundred thousand beli, while someone like you would cost millions."

The words fell out of his mouth without him giving them much thought. "Billions. Five billion."

Jade stared at him. "I'm glad you have so much confidence in yourself."

Law wisely chose not to share that this was a price not established by him.

"Your years of being an abomination to all humankind have yielded some usefulness."

"I'm glad to hear that. It's information I'm happy to share, Captain Trafalgar. All you have to do was ask, instead of watching me through your surveillance Mushi at all times."

"Does that mean there is other useful information you can provide?"

"Oh, much," she nodded. "But remember, this is a transaction, not a collaboration."

Law frowned. "What do you want?"

"I'd like a mattress for my cell."

Law waited for more. "That's it?"

"That's it," she affirmed.

"Done."

"Great," she smiled, and her voice lowered. "Then let me teach you about the Underworld."

* * *

 _Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago._

Late at night, the Den-Den Mushi of the Human Auctioning House, more professionally known as the Public Employment Security Office, shrilled loudly, waking up its owner. Disco slapped the Mushi, causing the snail to squeal, before he managed to pick up and shout loudly into the receiver.

"Who the fuck is this! It's the middle of the goddamn night, and—"

"Please give this message to Joker," a voice said clearly. "I can deliver Trafalgar Law to him. I know he wants him."

"Who the fuck is Alfalfa Low—"

The voice was cold, smooth as ice. "He'll know. I'll be in touch to name my price."

The call ended, and Disco rolled back into bed, muttering incoherently to himself about alfalfa laws and prank callers in the middle of the night.

If only he knew this alfalfa was worth five billion beli.


	3. level up, but don't evolve

**chapter 3** : **level up, but don't evolve**

* * *

 _fact_ : _all progress is not necessarily good progress._

* * *

Jade's new mattress was used and lumpy, with faded brown stains of old blood, coffee, and she didn't want to know what else. The Heart Pirates had pulled straws to see which lucky one would get to upgrade their mattress, resulting in Penguin happily presenting Jade with his dilapidated, "I've been sleeping on this piece of shit for ten years" mattress before flouncing off to buy a new "memory foam that smells like lavender" one. She was going to complain about it, but figured that nitpicking about amenities from pirates was probably pushing her luck a bit too far. The mattress served its purpose anyway, providing a thick enough barrier between her body and the cold wet floor of the cell (her previous straw pile was also now growing mold and giving off a musty, sour odor). Penguin's old mattress was an improvement, no matter how shoddy, and she slept well the first night.

The next morning, much to her surprise, Shachi approached her while she was nibbling on a piece of toast and reading the morning news. The rest of the mess hall was empty, as the Hearts were eager to take advantage of their last few days on North Blue land before they sailed toward Reverse Mountain.

"Hey, Cyclops." He slid into the seat across from her and took a slice of toast from her plate.

"Good morning," she said once she overcame her initial shock. "You're…um…talking to me now?"

"Uhff-grade." Crumbs spat out of Shachi's mouth. He swallowed his toast and made a face. "Upgrade. Barnacle to Cyclops. Straw bed to mattress. Slaver to…I dunno. Captain said you were, in his words, 'minimally less useless than before.'"

"I've never been so flattered."

"Yeah, that's high praise coming from him," he grinned. "If anyone asks, though, I'm not talking to you 'cause we're friends or anything. I'm just on barnacle duty until we leave, so I might as well play nice or I'll go crazy from not talking to anyone all day."

Jade tried to think of any particular activity the day before that could have been misconstrued as "bonding" activity. Maybe when she'd bought Shachi another half-dozen cupcakes in the afternoon as a preemptive apology for making him listen to the stock reports? She doubted pirates could be won over with simply cupcakes. Perhaps Law had ordered him to be nice after she'd proved herself "minimally less useless." Perhaps it was a "good cop, bad cop" ploy.

She stopped thinking about it. She did not mind Shachi, but she could also go for days without speaking to anyone. If Shachi was warming up to her, so be it. Affection was too fickle for her to rely on, and she knew better than to trust a pirate. Shachi's marginal friendliness truthfully made no difference to her.

"So we did what you wanted yesterday," said Shachi. "My turn today. Let's go visit some shipwrights."

"I thought you didn't trust any of them here."

"I don't, but it doesn't hurt gathering some info. Plus, your face from yesterday keeps bothering me."

"My face today is the same as it was yesterday."

"That's what you think," he returned, skeptical.

She immediately touched her lips. "Is my lipstick smeared?"

"Kinda."

She checked her reflection in Shachi's sunglasses. "You liar."

Shachi finished what was left in Jade's coffee cup. "That makes two of us."

* * *

The hospital smelled strongly of antiseptic as it tried its best to mask the pungent scents of melena, urine, and vomit. The antiseptic was doing a fair job as far as antiseptics went, and Law made a mental note to find the brand and flavor for future reference. On its worst days, the Polar Tang smelled as bad as a morgue left out in sweltering summer heat. (You couldn't expect much more from twenty men and a bear cramped in close quarters, and Ikkaku, the only woman on board, was no better than the worst of them.)

Law took his time perusing the rows and rows of medications in the hospital wing's supply room while an elderly doctor with flyaway graying hair cowered in the corner, guarded by Bepo.

"P-please, d-don't hurt me," she begged.

"I won't!" said Bepo with unconvincing cheeriness as he smiled. He'd eaten a cherry popsicle for breakfast, and his teeth were stained as if he'd bitten into a blood bag. The doctor fainted promptly. "Wait, what happened? I'm so sorry! Wake up! I'm not hurting you!"

"You should probably stop eating cherry popsicles," remarked Law. "It doesn't do you any favors when you're trying to appear unintimidating."

He pulled several boxes of generic antibiotics off the shelves: ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, vancomycin. For extra measure, he piled on bags of lactated ringer and scooped up the entire stash of opiates.

"I know," said Bepo, morose. "They were the only ones left though. They don't even taste good."

"Too much like cough syrup?"

"Yeah…"

Law made his way down the aisles, happy as a kid in a candy store (ironically, as a child, candy stores filled him with dismay). Bepo left the unconscious doctor and followed Law dutifully with an open canvas bag for Law to unceremoniously dump his stolen goods into. The submarine was running low on basic emergency care: bandages, sutures, lines for peripheral and central blood access. The bag grew progressively heavier and bulkier, but Bepo shrugged it on his shoulder like it was as light as a pillow.

"What else is on the plan for today, Captain?"

"Not much. I told Shachi to go visit the shipwrights and see what they have to offer."

"Isn't Shachi on barnacle duty?"

"Yeah. It was her idea anyway. Shachi said she looked strange when he mentioned we wanted to go to Water Seven instead. I want to know what she was thinking." Law threw a pack of syringes at Bepo, who caught it in his mouth and dropped it in the bag.

"Couldn't it be a trap?" said Bepo tentatively.

"Yeah. It's why Penguin's following them. If she pulls anything funny…"

"Off with her head!"

"I was gonna say out with her eye. I don't want her dead. I'd torture her for any more information she has, then I'd kill her."

"Why don't you just do that now?"

"If she's working for someone, killing her too early will tip them off," said Law. "If she's part of something bigger, she's a middle-tier agent at best. I want to know who's on top."

"You think she's working for someone?"

"Not sure." Law searched through the boxes of surgical gloves for his size. "We talked about the Underworld yesterday. That's not something people in North Blue know a lot about, but she knew almost as much as I do. Regardless of who she's working for, she doesn't just know Joker's name. She knows how the Underworld operates to some extent, and that's rare."

"Did you tell her anything you knew?"

"Of course not," the captain scoffed. "I played dumb, like the Underworld was fucking news to me. It's ridiculous how much she underestimates me."

Bepo peered into the canvas bag. "Think that's enough stuff, Captain."

"Really? We haven't even visited the surgical suites yet. They might have surgical robots."

"Captain, I don't think we have room in our operating room—"

"They have surgical robots, Bepo."

"With all due respect—"

"Robots."

"You're probably better—"

"We won't know for sure until we try."

"But—"

" _Robots_."

* * *

"Tell me."

"I didn't look strange."

"You did. You look constipated when you're thinking something funny. Tell me."

The sun beat fiercely and the loud clangs of the industrial sector did not help alleviate the starting pangs of a headache. Jade sipped her mint tea lemonade that was now more water than lemonade as she and Shachi walked side by side through the sector where burly shipwrights hammered away at their anvils. Others fanned roaring fires to heat tiny vials of shimmering silver-green metal. Jade typically enjoyed hot weather, but everything about the day felt laborious.

"How would you know how I look when I'm constipated, Mister Shachi? I've never been constipated in my life."

Shachi snorted. "That's a _fucking lie_."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"Is that what constipation feels like? Pants on fire?"

If this were Jade's first time meeting him, she'd think that Shachi was being uncharacteristically irritating to get her to crack. Unfortunately, weeks of observing the team quietly showed that Shachi and a majority of the Hearts were just like this at baseline: obnoxious, brash, and unfiltered. They badgered each other constantly, (even the mattress straw draw had led to Penguin masterfully clocking Clione with a roundhouse kick), making Law's resting death-surgeon-Grim-Reaper face even more curious.

Unlucky for Shachi, Jade was fairly irritating herself, though in a counterintuitive way because she was irritating by sheer fact that she could never be irritated. It was an unnerving trait for most people who expected otherwise.

Shachi made a big gesture with his hands, flicking chocolate pastry at Jade's face.

"No, that's diarrhea. Didn't you have that a couple days ago? You should know then." He threw the bag his croissant had come in carelessly over his shoulder, and it unbelievably landed in the trashcan without grazing the rim. "Now tell me why you wanted us to get our ship coated here."

"I was just making a suggestion, Shachi. I'm not plotting anything."

"Do you have something against Water Seven? Are you somehow sponsored by the shipwrights here?"

"No, of course not."

"Then what's wrong with us going to Water Seven? Reverse Mountain is supposed to be a couple days sail away— _there!_ You're making it again!"

Jade smiled. "What?"

"That face! You made it when I said Reverse Mountain." Shachi leaned close to her face so their sunglasses bumped. "What's wrong with Reverse Mountain?"

She pushed him lightly away and resumed walking. Shachi caught up to her easily.

"Oi! Cyclops!"

"It's nothing!" she said. "It's just a suggestion, and I don't want you to think I'm plotting anything because it's just a suggestion."

"What's the suggestion?"

Jade sighed, resigned. "You guys have a submarine with propulsion. That means you're not constrained by the Calm Belt. Why go through Reverse Mountain? You'll lose days, if not weeks getting into the Grand Line."

"But the Sea Kings—"

"There's a reason why an agricultural island like Brush Summit has a decent shipwright sector," she interrupted. "People come here before entering the Grand Line to get their ships outfitted with sea-stone. Coating a vessel with sea-stone hides it from Sea Kings."

" _Seriously_?"

"Why do you think everyone does it then?"

"For the armor! Sea-stone is as hard as diamond—I figured it was for protection."

Jade shook her head. "No. That's what Marines want civilians to think, but in reality they found out sea-stone has incredible properties decades ago, from neutralizing Devil's Fruits to hiding from Sea Kings. They just don't want everyone crossing the Calm Belt so easily. Not that there's enough sea-stone in the world for that to happen, but still."

Shachi looked at her appraisingly. "How do you know all this?"

"It's not exactly hidden information in the Grand Line," she grinned. "Every pirate crew has their ship coated."

"You've been then? To the Grand Line?"

Jade paused before she replied, debating. "Yeah. I have."

"No way!" Contrary to her expectations, Shachi sounded excited, almost impressed. "What's it like? What were you doing there? Is it as crazy as everyone makes it out to be? I had an uncle who sailed out there and came back without an arm and leg!"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

Shachi waved. "Nah, he was a dick anyway. Said I'd never make it outta northern North Blue. But look at me now! We're almost at the Grand Line!"

Jade couldn't help but smile. "Yes, you are."

"So what were you doing there?"

Shachi and his enthusiasm seemed genuine, but Jade couldn't help but feel alarmed. His questions and intentions seemed to switch with every sentence, and she could not shake the feeling that he was fishing for information. If it was simply information about the Grand Line, general information about Sea-stone or even what to expect with Log Poses and magnetic currents, she did not mind. But Shachi was asking about her, and even though it was a natural follow-up question to her admission of having been to the Grand Line, Jade did not want to be truthful.

"My parents took me there on a trip when I was a child," she said brightly. "Summer vacation, you know the drill. We went to this one tropical island on a cruise—dirt cheap and the pictures advertised these gorgeous palm trees, plants that grew the most colorful and delicious-looking berries, just a dream! But of course, it turns out the whole thing was a scam! We got there and the island was just this bitter ugly town, and the townspeople robbed us blind. They killed both my parents and were about to roast me over a fire, but they decided they wanted to do it piece by piece so they—"

"Okay, I get it!" Shachi said, supremely annoyed. "You don't have to finish the story!"

"But I just got to the best part."

"No, it's really okay—I really don't want to hear it."

"Too bad, you asked for it. They plucked out my eye, roasted it like a marshmallow, and ate it."

"Goddammit." Shachi swung for her head, intentionally slowly enough that Jade ducked. "Why does every story end with someone or something eating your eye?"

"Do you prefer story one or story two?"

"Neither!"

"I think I like story two more," she mused. "Seems more believable."

"Wait, really?"

"Mm. The Grand Line is full of weird stuff."

Jade stopped by a kiosk and picked up a piece of metal that was labeled to be coated with sea-stone. It felt cool to touch, but did not glint as green as it should have in the sunlight for it to be true sea-stone. The shipwright, upon seeing the prospective customers, hurried over. He was freckled man with dirty silver hair in his mid-sixties, but his wide, slightly cross-eyed appearance made him seem younger.

"Interested in our sea-stone coating, ma'am?" he smiled, showing multiple gold teeth. "Some of the most high-grade stuff around, y'know. Our shipwright is one of the best in the area, and we're actually offering a great deal right now! Five hundred beli per square meter."

"That's not bad," murmured Shachi. "The last couple kiosks had it at a thousand."

"Thanks for letting us know," said Jade to the salesman. "We're going to keep looking around."

"It's a one-time offer, ma'am, if you want it you gotta get it now!"

"Oh, really?" Shachi said, peering closer. "Maybe we should—"

Jade stepped on his foot and dragged him away while he cursed.

"No thanks," she smiled.

The salesman's face turned ugly.

"You a veteran?" he said.

"No…not really."

"Look here." He leaned close, and his breath smelled of alcohol. The tip of a sharp blade jabbed in Jade's waist, enough to sting but not enough to draw serious blood. "You ain't gonna tell a soul 'bout what we're sellin, 'cause if y'do, I'm gonna have the Marines here so fast your lil pirate asses will be in prison before you can even say 'Grand Line'—"

"Watch it, man." Shachi had a gun cocked and pressed into the salesman's stomach in a movement so swift it'd barely been visible. "You can't go hurtin' ladies like that for no reason."

"I'm fine," Jade said, her smile so wide it hurt even her practiced muscles. "I won't say a word, Mister Salesman. Now, if you'll excuse us, no one will get hurt."

The assistant grumbled something and backed off. Shachi stowed his gun back in its holster. Jade waved and the two of them stepped back into the streets, rejoining the humming crowd.

"You okay?" Shachi said.

"Of course, I'm fine."

"What was that all about?"

Jade's voice dropped. "The sea-stone was fake. You can tell by the sheen—true sea-stone has a very particular green to it."

Her side throbbed painfully. She pressed a hand above her right hip and felt her clothes damp. When she drew it away, her palm shone with bright red.

"Oh, fuck," she sighed. "I was hoping it was just sweat."

"Fucking Roger," Shachi swore. "You're not okay!"

"I am, I am," she said soothingly. "It's just a minor cut. I've been through worse."

"You just got stabbed for no reason!"

"It's fine," she said, slightly taken aback by Shachi's ferocity. "I'm going to drop by the ladies' room to clean up. I'll be back in a few minutes. Stay right here?"

Shachi nodded. Jade stepped away to the public restroom and washed out the wound with a damp paper towel. It truthfully was deeper than she'd initially thought, and she spent several long minutes applying pressure before the blood flow trickled to a stop. She pressed harder for some extra security, ensuring that no new red appeared out of her skin, before taking some bandages out of her bag and taping it carefully against the wound.. She was in the middle of washing her hands when she heard shouting outside, followed by a loud _bang_ that was most definitely a gunshot.

Jade hurried back into the street. Shachi was no longer where she'd left him, but instead had returned to the phony sea-stone seller and was pointing his gun at the seller's face. Blood stained the left sleeve of his boiler suit, but he did not seem to notice.

"Shachi! What are you doing?"

"All I wanted was to talk to him!" Shachi said angrily. "Said he was giving his town a bad rep if he's selling fake Sea-stone and then the bastard shot at me!"

"You shouldn't have confronted him! We could've just gone to someone else."

"It's the principle of the matter! You can't just fuck up someone's baby because you wanna make money."

"No one is fucking up babies!" she said indignantly while simultaneously astonished at Shachi's paternal side. Realization dawned on her. "Oh, you mean ships."

"Of course I mean ships, what other babies matter?!"

"Regular human babies, maybe?"

"Fuck human babies!"

 _Okay,_ she noted, _so no paternal Shachi_.

"Oi!" shouted the shipwright, waving his gun haphazardly in their direction. "I told ya if you started blabbing, I'd take care of you! My cousin's a Marine and he's gonna be here any minute now!"

"Not if I kill you first!" yelled Shachi, pointing his gun firmly at the shipwright. "You can't just stab random women and fuck up ship babies and get away with it!"

"Shachi, seriously! If Marines are on their way, let's just go."

"Nope, we're fighting." Penguin appeared right beside Shachi, his own pistol loaded and ready. "I've got no idea what's goin' on but this dude just shot my best friend and that means I'm gonna kill you."

Shachi didn't even look surprised at Penguin's sudden arrival, which meant that the Heart first-mate had been tailing them all day, which offended Jade because who was really causing the trouble, her, or Shachi?!

"Mister Penguin," she pleaded, "please don't escalate the situation. We really should just head back."

"I don't speak barnacle. Or coward."

"Fine," she hissed. It had been a long time since she'd hissed. She thought she could never get annoyed, but this was new—who knew! The pirates had finally worn her down. It'd only taken two weeks, of which they'd acknowledged her presence for only two days. She wished she'd remained a barnacle. "Get shot. See if I care. I'm just going to—"

There was a loud bang and the crowd that had surrounded them collectively screamed. Jade ducked as multiple gunshots followed and the crowd scattered. Good, that's what they should've done in the first place, stupid bystanders who couldn't turn away the slightest drama. She hated everyone at the moment. She could feel her temper build— _oh, careful there, Jade, we don't want angry Jade, last time that happened you shot your boss and got shipped all the way to fucking North Blue_ —

"What's going on here?" bellowed a new voice.

Jade turned around to find a single Marine in uniform. His rich mustache bobbed up and down with every word, but besides that, he looked ridiculous. He was in his fifties, with a giant belly bursting through his old Marine uniform, and a bad flare of rosacea coloring his face. He pointed an old rifle at Shachi and Penguin.

"Pirates?! Stealing from my cousin?"

"We weren't stealing!" howled Shachi. "Your cousin sells fake goods that ruin ships, don't you know that?"

"Don't listen to them, cousin!" said the shipwright. "These pirates shot me!"

" _We missed on purpose_!" screamed back Shachi. "You shot _me_ first! You _stabbed_ a woman just because she didn't want to buy your shit!"

Jade waved tiredly at the Marine. "Excuse me, all we wanted was Sea-stone coating. We didn't mean any harm. If you just let us go, no one has to go through all this trouble."

"And what's wrong with my cousin's coating?" demanded the Marine. "My cousin is the finest shipwright in all of Brush Summit! If you don't want to get arrested, then you will purchase from him."

"That's ridiculous," blanched Jade. "You can't just force us to buy from him just because he's your cousin. The whole point of capitalism is consumer choice!"

"Buy it, or face arrest!"

"Oh, by Roger," muttered Penguin. "Why do people trust the Marines?"

"Better than you scurvy, lawless lot!"

"Law-less," laughed Shachi. "More like Law-full—"

The inside joke was lost on the Marine, whose face was now redder from likely not rosacea alone.

"That's it, you fleas! You're under arrest! Under the order of the Marines, harbingers of absolute justice, I hereby declare—"

Jade reached down, pulled a knife of the sole of her shoe, and threw it at the Marine. It lodged straight between his eyes, and the Marine fell to the ground with a solid thud, dead as a doornail.

"Cousin!" the shipwright screamed, terrified. "What the—you crazy bitch!"

She turned to him, smiling broadly.

"Hi. Sorry about your cousin. But you should apologize to me too."

"What the f-fuck for!"

"You stabbed me first. Shachi, could I borrow your gun?"

"No, probably not the greatest idea," the pirate answered.

"Oh. True. Well, I can do this on my own."

She leapt toward the shipwright and kneed him straight in the face, causing him to howl in pain as his nose broke and spurted blood in a beautiful arch. As he writhed on the floor, Jade took his gun and pointed it at him.

"Say the magic words and I won't shoot you," she said happily.

"P-p-please!"

"I was looking for 'sorry.'"

"S-sorry!"

She smiled, "Too late," and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Fifty pounds of medical supply and a failed attempt to Room away an entire surgical robot later, Law sat unhappily on the deck of his ship as he shared a plate of grilled fish with Bepo. The polar bear patted Law consolingly on the shoulder.

"Sorry, Captain, but we really have no room."

"My Room was definitely big enough—"

"In the sub," clarified Bepo.

Because Law normally got what he wanted unless he was being truly unreasonable, he let it go.

"I know," he sighed. "I'm pretty sure I can operate faster than one anyway."

"Definitely!"

Law's Baby Den-Den Mushi rang, sprouting a cap reading PENGUIN that shaded its face.

"Hey, Captain," said the first-mate.

"Hey. You guys should be back by now. What's going on?"

"We…got into a bit of a fight."

Law frowned. "With who?"

Shachi answered. "This peddlin' cheapskate swindler who—"

"Shachi," warned Penguin.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, the barnacle killed a Marine."

Law straightened up. " _What_?"

"Not a big deal," said Shachi breezily. "If she didn't, I would've."

"We weren't supposed to get in a fight here—"

"No biggie! The other shipwrights told us that the Marine and his cousin are big issues around here, always trying to swindle pirates into buying from them. They're happy to see him go. They won't report us. Plus they gave us a big discount if we want to get our ship coated here!"

It seemed like an unnaturally good report of events. Law frowned deeper.

"Then what's the issue? Where's the barnacle?"

"I'm here!" Jade's voice was so chipper it made Law want to barf. "I actually wanted to show you something, if you're available."

"What?"

"It's sort of hard to explain," she hummed. "Kind of like…how I get my information?"

"Why would you show me?"

"Well, it's something I've wanted to do since we arrived, but you putting Shachi on barnacle duty has made it difficult. So I figured I might as well show you so we can at least both have any new information possible. If you don't want to come, I'm happy to just take Shachi and Mister Penguin."

Jade never explicitly stated her intentions, but instead framed all situations as a choice for Law to make when it was clear there was no choice at all. Just like how she'd bought her way aboard his submarine, she was buying something from him now—Law just say for certain what it was yet.

"No, I'll come," he said coolly. "Just tell me where to meet you."

* * *

Law met Jade at the entrance of the slums, where he'd been only the afternoon before. She was standing quietly as Shachi and Penguin goofed off on the side. An older, well-built man was tied up on the floor in front of them, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his arm and mumbling something against his gag, but Jade just smiled prettily at him and ignored him otherwise.

"Captain!" saluted Shachi as he and Bepo approached.

"Why are we here?" he asked Jade.

"You should know why," she said. "I'm sure you've killed many a slaver in the slums."

At the word "slaver," Shachi and Penguin sobered up.

"You were here yesterday, weren't you?" Jade guessed. "Before you found me in the transmissions office? Did you find anything or anyone useful?"

At Law's sullen silence, Jade smiled wider.

"Yeah, I figured you didn't. We might not today either. But it's worth a shot."

"Wait," Penguin said uneasily. "This guy…are you planning on selling him?"

"Of course," shrugged Jade. "Why else would I keep him alive?"

"Dude, that's so not what I thought we were doing!" gaped Shachi.

"What did you think we were doing?" said Jade, puzzled.

"I dunno! Shoving him in a dumpster or something…"

"What exactly would that accomplish?"

"Nothing, just fun."

"Are you okay with selling someone, Captain?" said Penguin.

"Are you serious?" Jade said, disbelieving. "You guys had no problem with me knifing a Marine in the brain but _this_ , you take issue with? The guy's still alive!"

"Freedom isn't ours to buy and sell," said Penguin hotly.

"But life is?" returned Jade.

"Enough," said Law sharply, cutting Penguin off before he could retort. "What's your plan here?"

"Slavers with any Joker affiliation are hard to find out in North Blue," said Jade, "and they'll never willingly tell you if they are related. You can't lure them out with some commoner to enslave. The good baits are active Marines or Devil's Fruit users, but that's difficult. The next best thing is a tradesman. This guy is a shipwright who knows how to coat with Sea-stone. He'll be worth something."

"You can't just sell someone like that!" protested Shachi. "It isn't…it's just not fair."

Jade laughed. " _Fair_? Pirates care about what's _fair_?"

The word rang with something hard and ugly. Jade seemed unfazed in light of Shachi and Penguin's profound horror, but her voice curled around the word "fair" with loathing. It was impressive, actually, that she could be so disgusted while laughing, and the irony was not lost on Law that the revulsion was shared among all those present.

"Get back to the ship, all of you," said Law.

"Captain, you can't be serious."

"I am," he said, tone steely, "and I understand that you don't want to take part in this, which is why I won't make you stay. I don't condone the slave trade. The Heart Pirates aren't slavers."

"Poignant, but useless," sighed Jade. "Fine then. I'll do this alone."

"No, I'm coming with you. Rest of you, get back to the ship."

"But—"

"Now."

Shachi and Penguin shifted uneasily, but Bepo just looked at Law with a patient expression reserved for when Law was being most trying.

"You need a guard, Captain?"

"No," Law said with a shake of his head. "I'm fine."

"Call us if you need anything."

They left Jade and Law alone with the shipwright, whose muffled shouts had grown progressively louder as the conversation passed. Jade tucked her hair behind her ears and dusted off her shirt. In a flash, she cuffed the prisoner severely across the neck, sending him to the ground, unconscious. She then reached into her bag and handed Law a solid black cap and T-shirt.

"Could you change, please? I don't want people knowing I'm wandering with a notorious pirate."

Law took the clothing. "Do people in this business tend to know you?"

"Sort of, not really."

Law took off his hat and shirt and tossed them at Jade to stow in her bag. She made an appreciative sort of nod at his torso but did not gawk overtly as Law changed. It was a better reaction than most.

"Do you mind helping me drag him?" Jade said, gesturing at the shipwright. "We're going to house number fifty-three."

Though it would be easier to Room them, Law resisted using his abilities and helped Jade drag the prisoner by his bindings, plodding along with some effort until they arrived at the designated house. There was nothing special about it: brown, aged wood, a door with rusty hinges and a broken bell. The numbers "fifty-three" were faded and green with mold.

Jade walked up the steps and knocked the door five times, followed by a pause, then another three times. Law memorized the way she did it: five quick, staccato notes, then a long, short, long. He didn't know if there was any reason to it, but the door opened slowly after.

The occupant was unreasonably well-put together for the slums. He was pale and waxy, like he never saw the sun, and wore a long, tailored coat that had seen better days. He even had a monocle, though it was cracked, and studied the visitors with furrowed brows and a stern grimace.

"What do you want?"

"I'm Everly Jade," she said, waving. "I'm here from Tether Island, working under Mister Price. I think you know him…?"

The occupant blinked. "Heard Price died."

"Yes, most unfortunate," sighed Jade. "It was a heart attack."

"I heard he got mauled to death by a bear."

Jade laughed. "That's ridiculous. There are no bears in Tether Island. And don't you remember Mister Price? Not the most outdoorsy guy."

The old man nodded, agreeing. "Who's this mean-looking mug?"

Law opened his mouth to answer, but Jade cut in before he could. "Alfalfa Low! Mute, unfortunately, so all he can do is glare at you. But he's been helping me out with some of my heavier merchandise, now that Mister Price, may he rest in peace, has passed."

The old man's gaze lingered on Law, long enough that Law was tempted to reach over and poke out his eyes, but he finally turned away. "So what's Price's assistant doing here?"

"I'm here to make a sale!" Jade said brightly. "An experienced shipwright from…well, here!" She stepped aside and made a big, waving gesture to the unconscious body they'd dragged over a hundred meters. "I heard that shipwrights have been in high demand in the Grand Line, especially because Water Seven has monopolized all the business. Now, the only other major place to get your ship coated is Sabaody Archipelago, which obviously…" Jade beamed, "sells slaves! You'd get a great price out of him selling him to some factories there!"

The slaver looked between Jade, the soon-to-be-slave, and Law. Law did not avert his gaze, but instead stared impassively back at the slaver. His opponent looked away with a slight shudder, pleasing Law that he'd won.

"How much?" said the slaver gruffly.

"Three hundred thousand," said Jade immediately, "which is a great bargain since I know you can sell him starting price for over five hundred. But if you have some information for me, I'll give him to you for half of that. I'm on my way to the Grand Line and would _love_ to work at the Human Auction House. Sabaody is my _dream_. But I heard it's pretty hard to sell there without the right permit, and the guy in charge…" Her voice dropped slightly. "Heard he's picky about who he hires."

"You and me both. Everyone wants to work there, especially with the way the slave trade's goin' around these parts."

"Right," said Jade slowly, "so do you know anyone up the food chain? Anyone to refer me to?"

"Think if I did, I'd be livin' out in this shithole?"

"Fine," she exhaled. "Four hundred thousand then."

"What?" The slaver's eyes bulged. "You just said—"

"I changed my mind," she smiled. "Keep hiding your contacts and he's up to four-fifty."

"All right, all right," he hissed. "I'll get you a name and address. I got a old buddy out in Kyuka Island who might be able to help you."

Jade hummed happily. "Don't fuck with me or I'll cut out your tongue."

The man paled. "W-What?"

"Kyuka is a vacation island. What am I going to do there, interview with a drunk timeshare owner?"

"H-he's retired," said the slaver. "That's why he lives there. I promise you, before he retired, he was really high up the food chain. He claims he's even met Disco!"

"A blind puppy could meet Disco as long as he could sell it for fifty beli," said Jade loftily.

"All I'm saying is this guy sold a Devil's Fruit user at the Human Auction House," said the man, "for over a five hundred _million_ beli."

Jade was quiet for a second, clearly doing calculations in her head to gauge if the story was reasonable or not.

"Fine," she relented. "Give me his name. And if you have an Eternal Pose to Kyuka, I'll take it too."

"I don't have—"

"I'm sure you go visit your friend enough to warrant investing in an Eternal Pose. You can have the slave for a hundred thousand."

The monocle glistened. "You have yourself a deal. Let me get you the Pose and the address."

The man disappeared for several minutes and re-emerged with a sizable stack of bills, a folded slip of paper and a shiny, gold compass that Law had never seen before. Jade handed the compass over to Law and unfolded the paper to read it. Law read over her shoulder.

 _Vorax Simon. 53 Shining Avenue_.

"Tell 'im Otterman Pete sent you."

"Your name is Otterman Pete?" said Jade, genuinely tickled.

"Yeah, got a problem with it?"

"No, of course not." Jade counted the money carefully under her breath. "Great, one hundred thousand. Pleasure doing business with you, Mister Otterman, and if your information is wrong, I'll be back to cut out your tongue."

"You were really Price's assistant?"

"I was very good."

Otterman made a derisive sound, grabbed the unconscious shipwright by the chains and lugged him into the house before the door slammed shut. Jade jumped down the porch, a noticeable skip in her step.

"What is this?" Law asked.

"A Log Pose," she said, as if it were obvious. When Law stared blankly, Jade continued. "Are you serious…right, I forgot. You're from North Blue. In the Grand Line, normal compasses don't work because each island has its own magnetic current. Log Poses guide you based on magnetic currents to the next island. If you stay at the island for long enough, it'll set, and the island's current will no longer affect the Pose and you can set sail to the next destination. The one he gave us is a little special. It'll only take you to the designated island."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"I'm from the Grand Line," said Jade. "All right, that's enough about me. We can head back to the ship."

"Just a moment."

Law extended his Room out to include house number fifty-three, and Otterman and his newly acquired slave suddenly appeared in front of them. Otterman stared up at them inanely, in the middle of a Den-Den call.

"Giving your friend a heads-up so he can run?" guessed Law.

"Y-you're not mute!"

"No, my friend. I'm not." The Room evaporated and Law swiped his nodachi once, cutting Otterman's head clean off. With another swipe, he decapitated the shipwright as well. Beside him, Jade screamed and jumped backward, more out of astonishment than disgust, as their headless bodies fell to the ground and pooled out blood.

Law bent down and picked up the Mushi. All he heard was static.

"Captain Trafalgar!" said Jade, the slightest edge of exasperation in her voice. "No blood had to be shed!"

"No great loss," answered Law. "Better than selling an innocent man into slavery."

"He wasn't—"

"Conning people into buying his fake merchandise isn't a crime punishable by life as a slave."

"So killing someone is better than selling them?"

"In my books, yes," said Law, studying the Log Pose in his hand. "Death is better than a life forever controlled by someone else."

Jade was no longer smiling. "And here I was, thinking that you didn't care."

Law shrugged. "I really don't, but my men do. If these are the morals that my men believe in and a line they're not willing to cross, then I'll uphold that line. We must have some standards."

"You're _pirates_. You're outlaws. What standards could you possibly need?"

Law looked at her impassively. "There are always limits to chaos, Miss Everly."

"Poignant, but useless," she said again. She threw her stack of money and the sheaf of paper into her bag. "Never mind then. We got what we wanted. Let's go."

He took a perverse pleasure knowing that she was no longer as unruffled as she normally was. Law kicked Otterman's head aside and strutted alongside Jade who was actively doing her best to hitch her smile back in place.

"Why are you upset?" asked Law, not because he wanted to make her feel better, but rather so he could identify an obvious pressure point.

"I'm not," she said, all pleasantries restored. "I'm happy, even. I didn't think we'd be so successful."

"You've sold people before and gotten nothing out of it?"

"It happens, unfortunately."

"Do you feel bad about it?"

Jade stopped in her tracks and looked at him. Her smile, so careful and painstakingly made, looked ugly.

"Captain Trafalgar, you just killed two people in cold blood. You've blown entire Marine platoons in smithereens and have performed dissections on living humans. You've torn apart families apart and have left entire cities destabilized for lesser pirates to plunder. You have the highest bounty across all of North Blue, and you're a doctor whose epithet is ironically the Surgeon of Death. Why in the world are you looking for empathy from me?"

Law didn't even blink. "Because your judgment is based on rumors and you know very little about my character."

"And you think you know mine well enough to judge?"

"No," he admitted after a slight pause. "I don't. It's why I'm trying to gauge what kind of person you really are."

"Why do you need to know? I told you, this is a transactional relationship, Captain Trafalgar. You're a sociopathic mass murderer, I'm a barnacle who sells people for a living. You don't need to know my true character any more than I need to know yours."

"Does that make things easier when you sell people?"

"Does it make it easier when you kill them?" she shot back.

She strode by him, movements like water. Her hair rippled like a curtain, straight and smooth, but as Law watched closely, he noticed that the barest ends were beginning to curl like plants yearning for the sun.

* * *

Law spent the afternoon in Brush Summit's public library, finding the most recent maps of the Grand Line to locate Kyuka. It was a small island off the coast of a much larger country labeled Alabasta. Beside him, Bepo read up on Log Poses and fiddled carefully with the golden compass.

"I just don't see why things would be different for me in the Grand Line," Bepo frowned. "I just…know where to sail to."

"The barnacle said individual islands in the Grand Line have their own magnetic pull," said Law. "I'm not sure what your instinct relies on, but if it's magnetic fields, then it's possible you'll be thrown for a loop too."

"I don't think I'm a magnet, Captain."

"Not quite what I was going for, but still. Just to be safe. Besides, if you're the only person who can navigate onboard and you get knocked out, what're we going to do? Sail in circles?"

"I've never been knocked out, Captain."

"False. Onyx Island, per cannonball."

"I caught an entire cannonball, Captain, it was a glorious feat!"

"It was," Law agreed. "But you still passed out, therefore I am correct, and you need to figure out what the fuck a Log Pose does so we don't all die if you do."

"Sorry…"

"For what?"

"For dying."

"You're not dead, Bepo."

"I know. Just apologizing in advance."

When they finished their research and returned to the Polar Tang, night had long fallen and dinner was cold. Clione reheated up the leftovers and served them both a generous bowl of beef broth and rice along with a side of insanely hot stir-fried eggplant.

"What _is_ this?!" cried Bepo as he blotted his tears carefully with a napkin.

"Apparently they're peppers from some country called Alabasta," said Clione, patting Bepo sympathetically on the back. "Sorry, I didn't think they'd be so spicy. Shachi gave them to me yesterday."

Law coughed and cleared his throat. "These the ones the barnacle bought?"

"Yeah, I think so. She ate them like a champ though. Didn't even need any milk."

"Fucking Roger." Law's entire mouth was numb; he wasn't even sure his words were even coherent. "Get me a glass."

"Me too," said Bepo.

"We're gonna have to buy more tomorrow," sighed Clione when he returned with two tall glasses.

Bepo downed it in one gulp and pushed aside the eggplant dish. "Sorry, Clione, I just can't finish it."

"Don't worry 'bout it," the cook laughed. "I couldn't eat it either. Barney pretty much ate the entire thing."

"Barney?" Law repeated.

"Barnacle," clarified Clione. "Barney, Barnacle…it's shorter."

"It's too much like a real name," said Law shortly. "The whole point is to not acknowledge her as a person."

"Yeah, that already ain't happening," was the resigned reply.

"What do you mean?"

The door to the mess hall opened. Shachi entered with determined purpose and sat down across from Law, looking abnormally grim.

"Something wrong?" Law took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Fucking peppers.

"Permission to be reassigned to something other than barnacle duty, sir," said the engineer.

Law glanced at him. "Why?"

"She…I…" Shachi faltered and looked at Clione, who nodded encouragingly for support. Bolstered, Shachi continued. "I'm starting to not mind her, sir."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't find her completely repellant, sir."

"You literally just saw her try to sell someone today."

"Yes, but what she said made me think about it more and…I just don't have good answers. I don't mind her. She's funny."

"Clowns are funny, Shachi."

"Clowns aren't—Captain, we are _not_ having this conversation again!"

"Their entire purpose is to make children laugh—"

"Did _you_ laugh at them when you were a kid?"

"Yes, I requested a clown for my birthday party from years four to six—"

Bepo gesticulated wildly in the background, keen not to hear about clowns any longer. "Redirect, redirect!"

Shachi cleared his throat. "My point is, I'm starting not to mind her, which means I'm going to start to like her as a person, which means I am not qualified to be on barnacle duty because my judgment has been compromised."

"That's ridiculous, there's no judgment required on your part. Just literally follow her and see what she's up to."

"Guards aren't supposed to have fun with prisoners! Friends have fun with friends, and I can't be her friend! Captain, I swear I'm not trying to get out of work, but…" Shachi made a frustrated noise. "Like today, I confronted that shipwright because he was selling fake sea-stone, but it was also because he stabbed Cyclops just because she could tell the Sea-stone was fake! And—"

"Hold on," said Law sharply. "She was stabbed?"

"Y-yeah. Oh, shit, I didn't tell you that part."

"No, you didn't." Law pushed back his chair and got up. "Where was she stabbed?"

"Around her waist, right side."

"Deeply?"

"Enough to draw blood. Probably not too bad though."

"You're off barnacle duty tomorrow," said Law, tone like acid, "but you're not going to be off it forever. Get your head screwed back on right and remember that she's a hostile on board. I'm not going to have you distracted just because she's got tits and a pretty smile."

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"She's got one eye, Shachi," offered Bepo.

"That doesn't exactly deter me…"

Law left his crewmates and headed for the infirmary, where he withdrew a basic first aid kit before heading down to the cells. He politely knocked on Jade's cell door and waited half a minute before it creaked open. Jade poked her head through the crack, visibly taken aback by the visit.

"Captain Trafalgar," she greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Shachi told me you got stabbed," he said curtly, pushing the door open on his own and inviting himself in. "Show me where."

"Oh, I treated it already," she smiled. "Don't waste your supplies on little old me."

Law placed the first aid box on the mattress and opened it. He waved the tiny scalpel at her.

"Don't make this difficult for me, barnacle."

"I'm fine," she exhaled, though she sat down on the mattress and carefully lifted up her shirt. A small four-by-four was taped right above her right hip bone. Law peeled back the bandage and revealed a three centimeter laceration that was still oozing blood.

"Did you clean it?" he asked.

"With water."

Law drenched a four-by-four square of gauze with peroxide and pressed it over the wound. Jade jumped with a hiss, but Law pressed her by the thigh down in place.

"Holy fucking Roger," she cursed. "Would it kill you to give your patients some warning?"

Law ignored her and prodded at the wound, which elicited more curses, though less writhing in place. He was being only slightly sadistic, mostly professional. No hematoma, and it was too inferior for there to be risk of a splenic laceration.

"Any numbness or tingling?" Jade shook her head. "I don't think there will be need for stitches then. It's not too deep. I'll replace the bandage and we'll just keep an eye on it."

"Okay," she nodded. "Thanks."

Law attached a new gauze over the wound and taped it firmly in place. He could not help but notice how Jade's skin, though a pretty, deep caramel color, was marred with scars. What he could see of her back sported multiple thin lines, and she seemed to have had several stab wounds in the past.

"Not your worst wound, I can tell," remarked Law.

"No," laughed Jade. "Not at all."

"You should've said something before we went to Otterman. It could've been much worse."

"No, it didn't hurt that bad. It was just a nick. If it'd been a dangerous stabbing…I would've known immediately."

"Is that something that happens often to you?"

"I saw it happen enough in my childhood."

"Must've been a dangerous place. You said you were from the Grand Line. Where?"

Jade gave him a half-grin. "Captain Trafalgar, keep asking questions and I'll start thinking you don't want this relationship to be transactional after all."

"Wanting to know who you are will tell me more about your intentions. This is nothing different from you obsessing over the stock market to predict what will be valuable next."

"Does that mean you're obsessing over me?"

Law scoffed and lied. "Don't get your head over-inflated. It'll explode."

"I don't doubt that you could make it happen."

Law shut the first-aid kit and straightened out. Jade smiled innocently up at him.

"Thanks very much, Captain Trafalgar. That was kind of you."

"You're worth more to me alive than dead right now," he returned. "Don't confuse practicality with beneficence."

"Sure. But since you are being kind, could you remove surveillance on me for at least one night?"

"No."

"Come on," she whined. "What if I wanted to jack off?"

Law shrugged. "No one's stopping you."

"Ooh," she said suggestively. "Kinky."

Law ignored the innuendos. "Shachi said you knew the sea-stone was fake. How?"

"Oh, that's easy. If you touch it, sea-stone has a chilling-to-your-bone effect," she said.

Law knew that already. Touching sea-stone for him also had the additive property of feeling like all his body was made of cement as it fell through the ocean.

"You have to touch it to know?"

"No, it also has a really peculiar green to it. You have to train your eye to see it, but once you get the hang of it…" She looked around the room and reached behind her mattress for the sea-stone handcuffs. "Here, see?" Jade lifted up the metal to Law's face, but he unconsciously stepped backward from it. Even from a distance, he thought he could see what Jade was talking about—an ocean-like green silver, glowing like fluorescent fish.

"Can you see it from there?" she said, dubious.

"I think so."

Jade put down the cuffs and looked at him curiously. "So you _are_ a Devil's Fruit user."

"I thought that was rather obvious."

"You see weird shit all the time as a slaver," she replied. "There's weird kinds of magic out there too." She tossed the cuffs back behind her mattress. "Have you ever been in sea-stone handcuffs then?"

"Obviously not, or else I wouldn't be here," said Law tartly.

"True, I guess that was a stupid question." She looked past him. "I hope it never happens to you then."

Law nodded. "That was helpful."

Jade smiled. "I'm glad. I think I've been fairly helpful to you today as a whole."

Law knew it was true, but he didn't want to admit it aloud.

"We'll get our ship coated tomorrow," he said. "You and I will go pick out the shipwright."

"Oh, I'd be delighted to," she chirped. "Maybe we'll even run into the one who tried to rip us off today, oh wait, he's dead."

"Better than being sold as a slave."

"That's an opinion, not a fact."

"Individual truths often straddle that line." Law turned to leave.

Something hurtled past his ear, hitting the cell door with a violent clang that echoed through the room before clacking to the ground. It was the pair of sea-stone handcuffs.

"Death is it. Done. It's over. You can't come back, you can't escape." She had none of that sycophantic sweetness in her voice now. "Maybe being in chains would be a good lesson for you, Captain Trafalgar. Maybe it'll teach you that even if you're in chains, as long as you're alive, you can always get out of them."

Law half-turned around to see her expression and did not know why he was surprised she was still smiling. The vitriol in her voice had led him astray.

"Goodnight, Captain Trafalgar."

Law left the cell and let the door shut behind him without another word. He should've been furious that she'd practically attacked him, though he knew that wasn't the case—he'd felt no killing intent. Instead, he was pleased. He liked getting a rise out of the perfectly-composed Everly Jade, poking and prodding at her wounds until she snapped. It was like a game, cutting off a lizard's tail to see how many times it'd grow back before the lizard just bit you in the face.

Everly Jade, the one who was useful, the one could get upset, the one who'd just thrown handcuffs at him, was going to be a problem.

Because Law was starting not to mind her either.

* * *

 _free talk_ :

 _thank you for reading_ death and its shackles _and hope you've been enjoying so far!_

 _couple things: thank you to sarge1130 for pointing out log poses aren't used until the grand line. that totally slipped my mind, so thank you for catching that! i've corrected the previous chapters to reflect that accordingly._

 _also, i'm playing around with each character's knowledge base a little bit. i'm not sure how well-known log poses are known outside of the grand line, or if it's general knowledge that sea-stone repels sea kings, but i'm trying to treat the heart pirates as slightly more knowledgeable (but not that much more) than the strawhats as they entered the grand line. additionally, i'm assuming that joker being doflamingo is not very well-known either, so jade and/or law may not have made that connection themselves._

 _i also want to make the disclaimer that in NO way or form do jade or law's morals reflect my own. their conversations about which is better, slavery or death, is a conversation between two fairly amoral people, and in no way do i condone either of their behaviors or beliefs when it comes to justifying either slavery or murder. my hope is to portray protagonists who are villainous in their own ways, thereby making interesting characters. in real life, both slavery and genocide remain the greatest atrocities that humanity has inflicted on each other and their ramifications are felt by communities for centuries after._

 _okay, off my soapbox now. thank you for reading, and please review!_

 _xoxo,  
m.n_


	4. the conscience sits on the heart

**chapter 4: the conscience sits on the heart**

* * *

 _fact_ : _no one knows the exact location of the soul._

* * *

The decision to enter the Grand Line through the Calm Belt instead of Reverse Mountain was made by a crew-wide vote, which Law did not hold often. His crew typically trusted his decisions, and democratic decisions only carried their weight so far in times of crises, but the presence of the barnacle and the information she provided threw the crew for a loop. Law was aware of his own biases: the prospect of entering the Grand Line unconventionally appealed to him, and a direct route to Kyuka through the Calm Belt would shave their route down by weeks. Yet, the source of this information and the presentation of their new target in Kyuka still made Law wary. He found Jade convincing but also understood that the reason he did was wrapped in his hope that she would lead him to what he wanted; simply desiring something to be true was not enough for Law to compromise his decision-making ability and consequently the safety of his crew. When it came down to it, his crew trusted him, but he trusted his crew too.

Jade did not attempt to sway them one way or another.

"I'm in no rush," she said. "Going through the Calm Belt can be more dangerous, with more Sea Kings and the occasional Marine patrol too. It's your decision. I was just providing information."

Much to Law's surprise, the crew overwhelmingly voted in favor of going through the Calm Belt.

"We can handle Sea Kings," said Ikkaku breezily, already taking inventory of their torpedoes.

"I just want to get there as fast as possible." The seven possible routes into the Grand Line, decided more by circumstances rather than active decision, horrified Penguin. Knowing the route to Kyuka, however dangerous, was much more preferable than sailing into complete unknown.

By majority decision, the Heart Pirates entered the Grand Line through the Calm Belt with a submarine newly coated in sea-stone, a nefarious captain with the highest bounty in all of North Blue, and a mysterious barnacle who knew better than anyone that shortcuts required sacrifices. She just wasn't going to admit it out loud.

* * *

Barnacle duty was somehow Shachi's least yet most favorite assignment. While on the one hand, he was constantly ensuring that he was not overstepping boundaries with Cyclops, no, Barney, no, _the hostile barnacle per Captain's orders, no names, no nicknames, no fun!,_ which made him very stressed because trying not to be friends with someone he sort-of-thought-of-as-a-friend was really hard. But on the other hand, Shachi loved barnacle duty because it usually meant playing a variation of two-man poker with the barnacle, who despite her incredible lack of emotion, was horrifically bad at it.

Shachi had been on barnacle duty five times in the week they'd set sail from Tether Island. Over the five shifts, he'd won over three thousand beli. Jade sat across from him in the mess hall now, the remnants of her dinner eaten by Shachi as part of her betting pool.

"I don't understand," she said, incredulous when Shachi called, yet again, her bluff correctly and won another thousand beli.

"What's there to not understand, baby doll," said Shachi breezily (winning made him a bit of an asshole, not to mention slightly misogynistic). "Your mind's an open book."

"Even your captain would disagree with that."

"Captain doesn't spend nearly as much time with you. Over the last few days, I've gotten to know you so well I can practically read your mind. It's like we're connected, y'know? You only got one eye but that eye speaks of your _soul_ , there's nothing you can hide from me now—"

"Your glasses are reflective, Miss Barnacle," chirped Bepo as he emerged from the kitchens with fried fish on a stick. "He can see your cards."

"Bepo!" cried Shachi.

"Sorry…"

"Roger's jollies and a shit on you too."

"There's no need for that kind of language!" Bepo sat down beside Shachi with a cup of coffee, which meant he was on a twenty-four hour shift because Bepo rarely drank coffee. ("Makes me hyper, and the last thing you want during submersion is a hyper polar bear").

Jade extended her palm outward. "I'd like my money back please, Shachi."

"No way. It costs a fee to be so dumb you'd forget the reflective properties of those appalling mirrors on your face."

"That is so rude on so many levels." Jade sighed unhappily, her cat-eye silver lenses shining in the lamplight. "Fine, you can keep your earnings. I'll just stop playing."

"You could just take off your glasses, you know. Or switch them."

"You first," she said pointedly.

"Fine." Shachi whipped his glasses off, fearless. His eyes took some adjusting in the mess hall's cool yellow lighting—it always surprised him how oddly bright it was in the submarine, though it felt empty.

Jade frowned as she studied him. "And here I was, thinking you had something to hide. You have two eyes, no scars, not even some orbital deformity. Besides being slightly cross-eyed, it's not a bad face."

"I am _not_ cross-eyed! I just have photosensitive eyes!"

"Really?" said Bepo thoughtfully. "Didn't you tell me you wore sunglasses because your first girlfriend told you never to take them off?"

"T-T-That's not true!"

"Pretty sure it is. Think it was back when we were kids, something about you looking better with them on…"

"I swear on Roger's mustache that I will cut you a new one, you traitorous bear!"

"Sorry…"

"Your turn," said Shachi, rounding on Jade.

"To do what?"

"Take 'em off."

"Oh, Shachi." She mock-fanned herself in flattery. "How could I resist such seductive persuasion?"

He scowled. "Stop dicking around. It ain't a big deal, just take 'em off."

"Why?" She collected the cards and began to shuffle. "Everyone's already seen what's behind them, thanks to your captain."

"Yeah, which is why you don't need to hide it. You could play poker and maybe even win."

All he heard in response were the crisp slaps of cheap plastic as Jade shuffled the deck, then laid them neatly into a stack with a bridge. She typically always had a reply, no matter how annoying Shachi was being, so the fact that the conversation seemed to have ended suddenly bothered him more than it should have. He could tell Jade was thinking back to the Confrontation with The Captain and remembered how frightened she could actually be. Shachi didn't need to care about her feelings—he'd been ordered not to—but he felt compelled to assuage her.

"He didn't mean anything by it."

"Oh, of course not," she smiled. "Just asserting his power over an enemy in front of his men. I get it."

"That's not what he was—"

"I don't begrudge him for it, Shachi."

"Sure don't sound like it," he grumbled. "Sounds like you're holding a grudge bigger than Bepo."

"Hey!" protested the bear.

"Admit it, you're getting chunky."

"I have _not_ —"

"It's not that bad, y'know," said Shachi to Jade. Beside him, Bepo began a self-conscious examination of his stomach. "Your eye."

"I've never thought it was bad."

"Then why do you hide it?"

"Oh, come on," said Jade, her voice soothing like she was a masseuse at a spa. "Can't a girl just enjoy a nice pair of sunglasses? These are Lilian, by the way."

"Holy— _how much did you spend_?"

"Too much," she sighed, tilting her head so Shachi could catch the snake logo engraved on the ear piece. "Far too much."

"More or less than a hundred thousand beli?" asked Bepo, his question pointed.

Jade smiled. "Come now, Bepo. Even I know humans are worth more than designer pieces. At least not designer sunglasses, anyway."

She stood up, pushing back her bench as she did. It groaned in dismay.

"I'm off to bed," she beamed. "Goodnight, gentleman, gentle-bear."

Shachi threw his palm up in farewell. He collected his cards while Bepo, having decided that his belly was a size to his satisfaction, continued to munch on his fish.

"She got you," Bepo said.

"What?"

"She never told you why she hides her eye."

"Oh. Dammit."

"She knows how to distract you." Bepo spat out a fish bone. "Does that bother you?"

"I dunno," muttered Shachi. "I already told Captain but he's been putting me on barnacle duty anyway, more than anyone else."

"He has a reason."

"Yeah, but if I fuck up—"

"You're not going to fuck up."

"Yeah, but if," Shachi insisted, "or if it looks like I'm going to, you gotta let me know. And you gotta tell Captain that I'm becoming a liability."

Bepo nodded. "Sure. But even if you become friends with her, you're not a liability. You're a good person, to be able to be friends with her."

"Tell that to Pen," said Shachi as he crammed the cards into his case and slid it closed. "You should hear the shit he's been giving me since Tether."

"Yeah, well, Penguin and you have always been different," said Bepo wisely. "You both have your strengths. One's not better than the other."

"Sometimes it is," mumbled Shachi. "It's why Captain trusts Penguin most."

"That's not true!"

"Yeah, it is. Like back in the Liodorian Strait—"

"Penguin took command because it was his fault in the first place."

"No, it was mine. I rounded up to the hundredth decimal—"

"It was a cartographical error because Penguin used the hundredth instead of thousandth protractor—"

"Yeah, but as the engineer—"

"Captain put you on barnacle duty because he knows you can handle it," said Bepo firmly. "So trust him, all right? It doesn't matter if you think he trusts Penguin more. He trusts you enough, or he would've removed you from duty. That's all that matters."

Defeated, Shachi stared down at his cards and flipped them over and over in his hand. "I should stop playing poker with her."

"Why? You earned couple thousand beli off her."

"It's all slave money," said Shachi glumly. "She got that from selling a shitty shipwright."

"Captain killed him and the slaver anyway."

"I guess that makes things marginally better."

Bepo patted him on the back. "It'll be fine. I'm gonna go to the navigation room now. Clione's gonna be mad I'm late."

"Bring him a cig and he'll be just fine."

"Ooh, good idea." Bepo got up to leave. "Oh, and by the way, you're wrong about Captain trusting Pen the most."

"Yeah? Think it's me?"

The bear beamed at him, and sometimes Bepo was just so cute when he smiled that Shachi almost forgot that he could kill someone with a small nip to the jugular. "No, of course not. It's obviously me."

* * *

Jade found herself spending more and more time just lying on her mattress, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought and wading through her emotions. She wondered if she was entering a depressed spell. It was highly likely. There had been a lot of triggers since she'd come aboard the Polar Tang, and Tether Island had not exactly been easy. Trafalgar Law was still terrifying, and in addition to the stresses of trying not to be (mis)labeled as a threat, Jade was re-entering the Grand Line for the first time in five years. She had every reason to be motivated and excited, but also every reason to be depressed.

She wished she could say that her mental fortitude was too robust to be seriously affected. Unfortunately, Jade's composure was undergoing a slow but steady attrition. She deeply regretted throwing those handcuffs at Law, and the captain seemed hell-bent on making sure she did. Law had not eased up on his persistent surveillance; if anything, ever since she'd thrown those handcuffs at him, he'd become relentless, requiring to eat her meals in the mess hall under full scrutiny, limiting the amount of time she had with video Den-Den Mushi to watch any local news. Once in a while, when she was sleeping, she could hear someone cough in the middle of the night, reminding her that she was always being watched. The coughs were probably intentionally audible, a bizarre form of mental pressure to see when she would crack.

It was growing progressively more difficult to wake up everyday and smile her way through the danger as she normally did. The only respite was when Shachi was on barnacle duty. Shachi interacted with her like a normal person, and Jade sometimes genuinely laughed around him. Cards with him was fun, though even that had ended poorly tonight. She had not expected Shachi's face to be so normal. Jade was almost offended by the fact that there wasn't some atrocity residing behind those screens, but that was silly, because most people who wore sunglasses obsessively had two perfectly functioning eyes anyway. She did not own a copyright on traumatic sunglass use.

She reached for the day's paper and combed through the pages. Something was happening in Alabasta. The prices for crops were at an all-time high, which was never a good sign because that meant famine, and famine was almost always succeeded by war. She didn't know why, how, or when it would happen. She also didn't care. Unless the contact in Kyuka miraculously led her to Alabasta, she had no intention of visiting the country. Nefaltari Cobra was a just and wise king who had stamped out any sign of the underground slaving market early on in his reign—Jade would gain nothing from the visit.

She just wanted to get to Sabaody Archipelago as fast as possible. She wanted confirmation that Joker had gotten her message, that Trafalgar Law was worth something incredible to him, so that when Jade made the trade, being a barnacle with a shit conscience would be worth it.

The Polar Tang skimmed the surface of the Calm Belt smoothly. There were no waves, no uneasy rocking, just the mechanical thrum of the engines and the occasional groan of a Sea King as it wandered close. It was the perfect atmosphere to fall asleep to, but Jade just kept thinking about Alabasta, Joker, Kyuka, Shachi, her eye, Trafalgar Law, sea stone, all the while staring at the ceiling through her outrageously-priced Lilian sunglasses that did nothing to put her world into perspective.

* * *

When circumstances allowed for it, the Heart Pirates had a weekly game tournament. The loser of the preceding week got to decide what the following week's game would be, and the choices ranged from Pictionary to Pin-the-Fin-on-the-Sea-King to good ole'fashioned rock-paper-scissors when things were busy, or when Uni just couldn't be bothered with the crew's shenanigans. (Law's personal favorite was "Insurrection," a highly complex cooperative board game involving over fifty moving pieces to emulate the multiple movements necessary to overthrow a dictatorship. He was very good, the dictatorship was almost always overthrown, and the rest of the crew rallied behind him much like in real life. It was great for morale, even though there was never a loser except for the game itself.)

The second week of sailing in the Calm Belt, the game of choice was classic chess, thanks to Penguin who had been gracefully last place the prior week when the game was basketball. (That had obviously been Shachi's selection, and he'd only won because Devil's Fruit abilities were banned and Bepo's body habitus prevented coordinated dribbling.) Much like his captain, Penguin was much more of a creative strategist who preferred holing up in his room drawing maps rather than shooting baskets, so it was no surprise to anyone that the two of them were the final contestants. The last match took place at Law and Penguin's convenience, because no one else cared enough about chess to watch, and because Penguin had never won a single match against Law before.

"We should be in Kyuka soon," remarked Penguin when it was Law's turn.

"Mm. It's been smoother sailing than I imagined, minus the first night."

"We're running low on torpedoes though." Penguin frowned when Law decided not to take his bishop and instead opted for a pawn. "Why'd you do that?"

Law didn't answer the question. "We need to be judicious with the torpedoes. Kyuka is a vacation island—we don't know the next time we'll be able to restock on weaponry."

"Right, I'll tell Ikkaku to be less trigger-happy."

"And make sure Takon isn't putting weight on that left leg of his," said Law. Penguin nudged his rook forward to take Law's knight. "That Sea King took a nasty bite out of him."

"He says it ain't too bad."

"I don't need him trying to play tough. I need him to play smart and not get septic and die. We should've doubled up on night guard duty ages ago. It's not just Sea Kings—we need to watch out for Marines too."

"I almost hope we run into Marines," said Penguin ruefully. "Easy way to restock on supplies."

"Don't jinx us," said Law sharply. "The barnacle said Marines out here are much stronger. We're not engaging unless we have to."

"Aye," said Penguin, sheepish.

Law moved a pawn forward two spaces, trapping Penguin's rook between it and his queen. "How's Shachi doing on barnacle duty?"

Penguin's frown deepened. "Haven't you seen 'em playing poker together?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you going to stop him?"

"No." Law arched his eyebrow at Penguin when he prodded his rook back. "You sure you want to do that? You're leaving your queen open."

"But then I'll just take your queen."

"And you'll lose your rook too."

"Fine by me," he shrugged. "Why aren't you stopping Shachi? He's been getting nervous, y'know."

"We'll be there to keep him in check," said Law. "It's not a bad thing if the barnacle is comfortable around him. As long as Shachi tells me what she tells him, we'll get a better idea of who she is, where she's from, and what she wants. It's not information I'll get if I just badger her into yielding it."

"You could just torture her."

"As much as I want to, information given under duress is not nearly as reliable as it is if it's unknowingly manipulated out of you." Law took Penguin's rook and added it to the graveyard. "Give Shachi time. She'll give in."

"I guess…" Penguin moved his bishop half-way across the board. "Check."

Law studied the board, thinking. "I want you to piss her off."

"Huh?"

"I want to see how well she can fight. She knifed a Marine in the head and can shoot a gun. Even in our limited spats, I can tell she has decent form. I need to know how capable she is should we run into enemies, or should she end up explicitly becoming one." Law rubbed his chin. He needed to shave. "Asking her to spar won't amount to a true assessment of strength. You need to piss her off enough that she attacks like she wants to."

"Honestly, she's more likely to piss me off than the other way around. Shachi says she never gets upset."

That was false. Law had upset her three times now, and he was very proud of himself for this feat that no one else could accomplish.

"Just try."

"Wouldn't Shachi be more effective?" said Penguin, uncertain. "If he knows her better, he'll know where to target, piss her off easier."

"I thought about that, but it's better if she has at least one person she can rely on in the crew." He moved his rook, taking Penguin's bishop. "Plus, it seems pretty shitty to use Shachi like that. He'd get hurt too."

He retaliated by taking Law's rook with his knight. "Great, now I just sound like an asshole."

"Assholes tend to win." Penguin's king was now unguarded. Law's bishop and knight were already in place. He moved his second rook directly in front of the king. There was nowhere to run.

"Checkmate."

* * *

The fight happened late at night, when the submarine had surfaced to take advantage of the moonless evening and hopefully avoid both Sea Kings and Marines alike. In the combined efforts of Bepo and the Eternal Log Pose, the Polar Tang was projected to arrive in Kyuka the following morning. With the exception of some scuffles with truly gigantic Sea Kings, it was the smoothest trip Jade could have asked for, which was why she should've known something would go wrong.

Her sleep patterns, which had been so perfect regimented before, had grown increasingly erratic. Long past midnight, Jade turned listlessly on her mattress, feeling a hollow ache in her chest that made no sense to her because she'd thought she'd carved out that black heart of hers years ago. Still, it kept her up tonight.

It had been Takon's birthday, and Clione had made a massive chocolate cake with buttercream frosting for the crew to share. Jade was not part of the crew and did not expect to be given a slice. She had tried to remove herself from the festivities after dinner, but Law glared her down and so she remained quietly in her seat, feeling awkward and for the first time in a long time, a little sad, because it happened to be her twenty-fifth birthday too, but she wasn't about to tell anyone that.

Then, Shachi took an extra slice of cake, sat right down next to her, and handed it to her.

"Here, have a piece! Clione's great baker but he doesn't make desserts that often, so you're in for a treat."

Jade stared at him. "Um…are you sure? I don't think I'm considered part of the celebratory party. Takon probably wishes I weren't here."

Shachi shrugged. "There's plenty of cake to go around. You might as well."

"But—"

"Cake's cake, Cyclops. Don't overthink it."

She grew emotional for no reason and she knew that Shachi was probably being nice to her only on Law's orders in this twisted mind-fuck of a game they were playing, but Jade wanted to hug Shachi. She didn't, because that would've been stupid, and instead picked up her fork.

"Thanks, Shachi," she said very softly.

Shachi grinned at her. "You're welcome, Cyclops."

Now, alone in her cell, Jade could still taste the buttercream frosting and the perfect texture of the chocolate cake. She had been thankful— _genuinely_ thankful—for Shachi's kindness, and that terrified her. She was not supposed to take kindness at face value. She was not supposed to have friends.

Even though a small part of her desperately wished Shachi were hers.

Jade sat up and slipped out of her cell. Her nerves seared with an anxious energy and her head throbbed. She needed this mood spell to end; she was losing her grasp on her emotions and therefore her concentration, and the journey had barely begun. It was unacceptable.

Jade found herself in the galley, surrounded by the stench of whiskey that a drunk Takon had tried to pour on Law earlier that evening, to poor effect. Clione would be furious if he found her snooping around the dwindling supply closet, but the mess was thankfully empty. She rummaged through the pantry and found the small bag of dried Alabastan peppers she'd bought from Tether Island. Maybe some spice would soothe her, though usually it just reminded her of home, and nostalgia never helped her mood. Still, it was Jade's birthday, and she was going to make herself something so spicy her nose would fall off.

"What are you doing?"

Jade startled and straightened up from the refrigerator with a bowl of leftover rice. Penguin stood at the galley's entrance, arms crossed over his chest, face hidden by his cap. She'd forgotten who was on barnacle duty tonight.

"Hello, Mister Penguin," she said, ignoring the sinking feeling in her chest. "I was hungry. I was going to make myself some spicy fried rice."

"Our supplies aren't yours to use," said Penguin sharply. "Besides, I thought that giant piece of cake Shachi gave you would be more than enough."

Jade's smile was rooted firmly in place. "It was really great cake."

"You shouldn't have had any. You're not part of the crew, I don't know why you thought you could celebrate—"

"I tried to leave," Jade cut in, "but your captain made me stay. If you have a problem with my being there, then that makes two of us. Why don't we go ask him together?"

"Don't blame Captain," snapped Penguin.

"But I stayed on his orders, so…I'm not really sure where else to redirect your displeasure." Jade set down her bag of peppers on the countertop.

Penguin normally pretended she didn't exist, so his determination to engage her in some kind of conversation struck her as odd. He was up to something, which meant Law was up to something, which meant Jade only smiled harder because she would not slip up around him again.

"Would you like some fried rice?" she asked.

"No."

"Then would you like to watch as I made some?"

He grunted something in return, which Jade assumed was a yes. The frying pan soon sizzled with oil, rice, a few sparse slices of sausage, and a hefty dose of peppers. The fumes from the peppers alone made Jade's eye water, but it smelled delicious. Perhaps this would make her feel better—even the smallest task could seem insurmountable when she was hungry. Maybe Penguin would let her eat in peace.

"When'd you start slaving?"

Or maybe not.

"When'd you start pirating?"

"Can you not deflect for once?" said Penguin sourly.

"I just don't understand what it is with you and your captain insisting on this getting-to-know-you gambit. Why do you care?"

"Was it a family business? Or you got kidnapped and forced into the trade?"

"Neither." Jade emptied the contents of the frying pan onto a plate with bluebell patterns painted around the edges. "I used to make a decent living as a customer service representative at an electrical company, except I also had a huge gambling problem and lost a _lot_ of money. I got into slaving as a way to pay off my debts, since it pays great and once in a while I could give away a slave as part of a payment." She found a bottle of hot sauce in one of the cabinets, sniffed it, then drizzled it liberally over her rice. "But I owed a huge debt to this big Mafia leader, and I couldn't pay him back in time, so one night he sent a bunch of goons to attack me, and they gouged out my eye and made me eat to teach me a lesson. It totally worked. I've never been late on a bill since."

"You're unbelievable."

Though Penguin's nasty tone suggested that he was doing the exact opposite of complimenting her, she beamed at him.

"Thanks!"

"You know, if you'd been forced into the trade or someone was blackmailing you now, I'd feel a little bad for you. But nothing you do suggests that you're a slaver out of anything but your own volition."

"That's true," she said, mixing in the hot sauce. "It is my choice."

"Which means that you fundamentally think people are worth less than you because you think you deserve to sell them."

Jade shrugged. "I think _some_ people are worth less than others. Doesn't everyone?"

"What?" sputtered Penguin. "Obviously not!"

"Oh, please, why don't we talk about bounties?" She took her plate of food and headed out into the hall to eat. Penguin dogged her footsteps, scowling all the while. "The whole premise of Marine bounties is that your freedom can be sold. Your captain is _literally_ worth more than you are. Twice as much, to be exact. How is me turning you into the Marines for your bounty any different from me selling you to some random buyer? The rule of this world is if you get beaten, your freedom is forfeit to the victor, and whether you're turned into fodder for the Marines or some creepy asshole isn't up to you."

"The Marines are an institution that represents some kind of order," retorted Penguin. "It's the same premise as prisons—if you don't have prisons in place, then there's nothing to regulate population from committing crimes."

"You're a _pirate,_ " laughed Jade. "I don't know why I have to keep reminding you of that—you just constantly seem to forget! You commit crimes all the time! Does the fear of prison stop you?"

"No, but—"

"It's hilarious that a pirate will use the Marines as some representation of order when it's all shit down to its core."

Penguin studied her beadily. "What do _you_ have against Marines?"

"Nothing, really," she answered through a mouthful of rice that burned her throat. "I just mind pirates less. Marines always pretend they have this moral code guiding them just because they've branded themselves that way. At least with pirates, I feel like we're on the same page—no moral conduct bullshit. Or, that's what I usually get." She pointed her spoon at Penguin. "This crew, particularly you, has been an odd exception."

"We're pirates because we had to be. Because Captain wants the One Piece and we will follow him to the end to make sure he's Pirate King," Penguin snarled. "Sure, we kill people sometimes and we fight Marines, but we don't kill people for fun or just because we're bored. We have a bigger goal and a bigger purpose."

"And what makes you think I don't?"

"Because no matter what the circumstance, I don't believe that people's dignities are worth selling. If you beat me and turned me into the Marines, fine. I lost, and I'm supposed to be executed because the way this world works is pirates are outlaws, and executing them is how to re-establish order. It doesn't strip me away of my pride. I can die with my head held high knowing that I fought for what I believed in. But when you sell someone, you take all of that away. You reduce them down to this nameless _thing_ , this beast without an identity or a name, a story or a dream. I don't care what happens. You could never make me do that to another human being."

Jade smiled. "Mister Penguin, is Captain Trafalgar the most important person in the world to you?"

Penguin glowered at her in silence.

"Of course he is," she said. "He's your captain. He's the most important person on this ship, and literally everyone onboard would do anything for him. Let's say Captain Trafalgar was…injured. Kidnapped? And the ransom you must pay is…" She set her spoon down for dramatic effect, "is a slave. Wouldn't anyone on this submarine do that in a heartbeat?"

Penguin didn't answer.

"Or even better," she said thoughtfully, "wouldn't you sell me?"

Still nothing. Jade smiled. The meal had done its job; she was satiated, like the rice had nestled in the awkward ache that Shachi's kindness had carved out. She had no need for a beating, functioning, bleeding heart. She thrived best when it was as black as her soul, when she could run Penguin's morality crises round in circles because the whole purpose of these games was to have not just a shit conscience but no conscience at all.

"You could never make me do that to another human being," she quoted back to him. She giggled. "You should never say you'd never do something. You'll always find circumstances ripe enough to poison your moral high ground."

"Poignant," said a voice behind her, echoing her favorite word to throw around acidly, "and surprisingly, not useless."

Jade whipped around to find Law leaning against the wall, arms crossed, gray eyes gleaming. He had been so silent she couldn't even hear him breathe. He looked like he'd been sleeping, with his hair mussed and his clothes wrinkled.

"I smelled something good and figured Clione was making a snack." Law sat down next to her and eyed her meal, which was so drowned in hot sauce that it looked like she'd bled all over it. "I think I'll pass though."

"How long have you been lurking, Captain Trafalgar?" she asked, careful to keep her voice pleasant. "You should've joined in."

"No need. I tend to learn more by listening." Law made a little nod at Penguin, who grinned back. Clearly Jade had not been wrong about Penguin's interest being a set-up, though for what, she wasn't sure. The moment Law had announced his appearance, all of Jade's self-satisfaction disappeared. Conversing with Penguin was like playing checkers. Even breathing the same air as Law felt like playing chess without a queen. The wiser choice was not to play at all.

"Good to know," she said, pushing aside her leftovers and standing up. "I'm going to just wrap this up for later and head back to sleep."

Law grabbed her wrist and held her still. "Your reflux will be terrible if you sleep now."

"How'd you know about my reflux—"

"I have some questions I want you to answer."

Jade jerked her hand out of his grasp and collected her meal. She had not walked three feet away before she felt an indescribable pressure on her body that lasted nanoseconds and then she was back right beside Law, as if she'd never moved at all.

"What the—"

Her plate disappeared from her hands and clattered back onto the table a split second later. All the hairs on Jade's body prickled up. The hall, normally bathed in a hollow yellow light, was now tinted in blue.

"Sit," ordered Law.

"You can pack it up then." Jade shook off her fear and headed for the exit. "Goodnight."

She blinked, and she was back where she'd started. Bored, Law poked at the remnants of her meal with a spoon.

"We could do this all night, Miss Everly. To make things clear, everything encased by blue is in my Room. Everything in my Room is under my control." He turned to her, the ghost of a smug smirk on his lips. "You included. Now, sit."

Jade remained standing. Her temper was starting to build—she was not some plaything that could be moved against her will. Law's abilities were _stupid_ and _illogical_ and so frustratingly _overpowered_ and _vague_ —"everything in a Room is under my control"—what kind of ridiculous nonsense was that?! She was a twenty-five year old woman who was just trying to find her way in the world by selling a pirate with bad tattoos that blared DEATH all over his fingers, surely that was as respectable a goal as they came!

"I'd like to go back to my cell," she said quietly. "I'm not in the mood for whatever games you'd like to play, Captain Trafalgar. Any questions you have, I'll be happy to answer tomorrow morning when we're in Kyuka. Stop me again, and I will hurt you."

She stalked away. The moment she reached the exit, she felt that pressure again, and she was back right beside Law, and this time, her sunglasses were in Law's outstretched palm.

"I'm the captain of this ship," said Law quietly. "The only person who gives orders around here is me."

Their eyes met, and it ignited a beast that had laid dormant inside her for a long time.

Jade lunged for the plate on the table and threw it not at Law, but instead at Penguin. The rice and peppers flew through the air like bullets painted by blood, slapping Penguin's face with dollops of hot sauce that she knew burned like hellfire in his eyes. As Penguin howled in agony, she slid across the table, taking her knife out of the heel of her boot as she did, and slipped behind the thrashing man to press the blade roughly against his Adam's apple. He tried to elbow her in the stomach, but she blocked it with her left hand and thrust her knife so that it broke skin.

"I said I'd hurt you," said Jade breathlessly to Law. "I didn't say how."

Law's face had lost all of the disinterest that it had before. His eyes were bright and livid with rage, and he slowly got to his feet with the grace of a panther before it struck. Jade knew instantly that she had just signed her own death wish.

"How unfortunate." Law's voice was velvet danger, the curtains in an amphitheater that drew back to reveal a guillotine. "I had pegged you for someone who wasn't stupid, but you've proved me wrong. Any last words?"

 _You are so STUPID, this is what always happens when we get angry Jade except this time, we're gonna die! You had someone Joker actually wanted, you finally had a useful lead and now, goodbye! Just because you couldn't keep your shit together for one more second—_

"Maybe fuck you—"

Her last words—so poignant, yet useless!—were cut short by the submarine abruptly lurching forward with such force that it sent all three of them flying across the room. Jade slammed into the wall and Penguin landed directly on top of her; the collision from both ends sent a sharp electric pain through her entire body that had her seeing black. Gravity hovered, then inverted, leaving Jade's stomach doing backflips and threatening to regurgitate what she'd just eaten. The chairs pummeled toward them and were just about to crash when Law's blue Room flickered and the chairs appeared in the center of the room again. The submarine rocked back in place, fully upright, and the chairs bounced to the opposite side of the hall while the tables, affixed to the floor, looked lonely without their company.

Jade was crumpled on the ground, paralyzed by a splitting headache, possibly concussion, and what was certain to be a vicious bruise along her entire spine the next day. She forced herself to her feet, feeling jolts spread down her legs, but at least she could feel all her limbs and control them. Law and Penguin were already standing, the former murderous and the latter still wiping tears from his eyes.

"We've been hit!" Shachi's voice echoed through the hall. "Starboard, grade two torpedo. No serious damage. I see two vessels, Marines approaching fast with gangplanks. Awaiting orders."

Law reached for the pipe connecting to the communications system. "Initiate defense response. Teams C and D in navigation and weaponry, everyone else on deck to fight."

"Aye. Is our goal to kill them or escape?"

Law glanced at Jade. "Kill them all."

In a flash of blue, Law transported them onto the deck, where Shachi was still shouting into the communications pipe and Uni was already fighting off a Marine who had managed to climb onboard. Bepo emerged from the ladder and immediately head-butted the next Marine straight into the ocean.

"You all right, Pen?" asked Law.

"Yeah," he said, his eyes red and swollen. "I'm fine."

"Good." The captain twisted his hand and weapons appeared in front of them both: the typical nodachi for Law, and a spear for Penguin. "You'll cover me."

Jade, whose temper had evaporated in the face of sure death (twice now), smiled and waved at them.

"So…are you going to kill me now? Later? Should I be running or trying to fight?"

Law unsheathed his sword. "Penguin."

"Aye." Penguin swung his spear at Jade, who dodged and backed out of its range.

"Hey!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Look, I'm sorry about before! I just got upset, I'll make it up to you later! Just let me fight with you—I don't have anything to gain from the Marines."

Law wasn't even listening to her anymore. He swiped his nodachi left and right and the force of his swipes billowed through the air, splitting anything it touched in two. Jade would have been impressed at the sight of an entire Marine ship being bisected if she weren't desperately trying to avoid being impaled by Penguin, whose depth perception was certainly impaired by the hot sauce in his eyes.

"Mister Penguin, just— _I'm sorry, okay_?!"

"Captain's orders!" he shouted. "Just sit still and die already, would you?"

"I don't want to right now!"

Shachi hopped down to them, gun in hand and interest piqued. "What's going on?"

"Captain said to kill her."

"Your captain said no such thing!" she hollered as she skipped the left and narrowly dodged the tip of the spear. "All he said was your name. It could've meant anything!"

"It meant kill you and feed you to the Sea Kings!"

"I disagree!" she wailed.

"We don't have time for this!" bellowed Shachi. He pointed his gun behind him and shot twice; both resulted in a groan, then subsequent splash as a body hit the water. "We're outnumbered and need all the help we can get. Cyclops, here's a pistol."

" _Do NOT give her a weapon!_ "

"I swear I'm not to hurt any of the Heart Pirates," she promised as she took the miniature gun from Shachi. "I'm here to help!"

"She is going to shoot you in the back of the head— _shit_!"

A cannonball crashed into the side of submarine, sending Jade over the railings. She grasped blindly for the rail and found it by miracle. The submarine bobbed back into its upright position and Jade flew face first into the side of the vessel, and upon contact, her head exploded in pain. She hung there, tasting the salty steel and waiting for her vision to clear before she pulled herself back over onto the deck at such a pitiable rate that she swore she never again skip arm day. By the time she'd fully righted herself, the deck was in chaos—the Hearts were great fighters, but the sheer number of Marines aboard this deck was uncalled for. Shachi had miscounted; three Marine ships surrounded them, with one flying the flag of a commodore and the other two of captains.

This was a coordinated effort, which meant that they had known the Polar Tang was coming.

Jade cursed and hid in the shadows of the cabins, thinking. Had killing the shipwright's Marine cousin alerted Headquarters of the Hearts' location? But how would they have known they'd make their way directly to Kyuka? Perhaps Otterman tipped off the Marines in his Den-Den call. She'd assumed he'd been alerting Joker, especially since she'd shown up on his doorstep with a poorly disguised Trafalgar Law, but perhaps she shouldn't have assumed anything about Otterman's intelligence.

Either way, this was a shitty situation. Jade had nothing to gain from Marines. She was a slaver (an illegal occupation) among pirates (also an illegal occupation) which meant that if the pirates lost, she would surely be arrested, and therefore the logical choice was run while it was chaotic. But if the pirates won and she'd run, she would've lost a huge opportunity, not to mention Law would likely track her down and dissect her alive.

"Oi, Cyclops!"

A bullet whizzed by her ear, lodging into something behind her. A Marine with an outstretched rapier, freshly dead, fell to the ground with a heavy thud, blood pouring from the single bullet wound in his forehead. Several feet away from her, Shachi brandished his rifle threateningly.

"What're you doing, daydreamin' in the middle of a battle?! Pay attention!"

"S-sorry."

Shachi just shook his head, disapproving, before running up the stairs to the upper deck to find his the next target. Down below, Bepo threw off three Marines in a ferocious roar before battering them in a flurry of elegant kicks. Penguin had given up on his mission of assassinating Jade and was impaling Marines left and right, his spear looking more like a kabob with every passing minute. Law took on an entire ship by himself, surrounded in a blue dome that served as a witch's cauldron full of bizarre components. She could've sworn she saw limbs floating in the vacuum, but how did that make any sense? (The answer was: it didn't. But neither did Trafalgar Law as a composite whole). Marine after Marine fell to his sword, and Law stood untouched, smirking in the piercing blue light of his Room. Watching him fight alone, Jade understood just how much one hundred fifty million beli was worth: the lives of twenty, thirty lesser men, maybe even more.

Figuring that Law was the last person who required any assistance, she followed Shachi to the starboard's upper deck railings. She truly wanted to help, and Shachi was probably the only person onboard who didn't want to kill her. He was an excellent sniper, picking off anyone who came remotely close to Law one by one. Jade seated herself on the staircase and fought in short-range, aiming to cover the only pathway to Shachi.

"Good one!" he shouted when she shot a Marine running up the stairs at them in point-blank range, spraying blood all over her clothes.

"He was running _at_ us."

"And now he's dead!" said Shachi brightly.

"Even a toddler could've killed him."

"Why are you getting toddlers to kill people?!"

She turned to him. "I'm just _saying_ —"

"Oi!" shouted Shachi. "Pay attention!"

He dove in front of her and they tumbled to the edge of the ship as bullets hit right where she'd stood seconds earlier. Jade cursed and curled upward (oh, hello abs!) to face the Marine that had just tried to kill her. He was a stately, short man, with dark skin, graying hair, and cold eyes that had seen too much of the world and found it entirely disappointing. Jade pointed her gun at him and shot haphazardly, but the Marine dodged easily (admittedly her aim was also off) and readied his own pistol, aiming it not at her but instead at Shachi, who had gone still in her arms.

"Shachi," she said shakily. "Shachi, what are you doing just lying there?"

Then, she felt it. Thick, warm liquid pooled over her front and she knew it was blood. She thought they'd dodged, but no, Shachi had taken a bullet for a hostile barnacle and she had legitimately no idea why a cold, callous pirate would do such a thing. The Marine drew closer, and she could hear the cock of his gun.

 _We're going to die_.

The realization hit her like a bolt of lightning. It was not even the first time that Jade had looked Death in the eye today, but she could never grow accustomed to the full weight of her fear. She'd thought she was scared of Law, but this was different because Penguin was right—there was something grand about choosing the means of one's death, and if she was going to die, she wanted it to be at the hands of the Surgeon of Death and not some measly Marine.

"Captain Trafalgar!"

It was a scream that left her lips more like a prayer, one made by the faithless to a god that had no reason to show mercy. But something about Jade's scream must have moved him, for there was a flash of blue and Law appeared right as the bullet left the Marine's gun and disappeared into thin air. Law wasted no time and swung at the Marine. His gun split in two and clattered to the ground, useless, but the commodore grunted and unsheathed his own sword to parry Law's following blows. Jade rolled Shachi onto his back. The engineer was still breathing, thank Roger, and the bullet wound was mid-torso.

"Apply pressure," ordered Law as he ducked a side-swipe.

"R-right." Jade pressed her palms over the wound, and Shachi grunted in pain. "S-Should I remove the bullet?"

"I already did," was the curt reply.

That seemed entirely unbelievable, but sure enough, a small silver bullet rolled out onto the wooden floor beside her.

"Get under cover if you're not going to fight," snarled Law.

Jade obeyed and dragged Shachi into the shadow of the crow's nest, applying as much pressure as she could while trying to maintain awareness of her surroundings. The Marine Law was fighting was different from the other goons; his sword play was skilled, clean, and Jade could tell that Law was having the first bit of difficulty he'd had all night. Steel bit steel in relentless chatter, and with every flourish, Law's Room seemed to flicker. She knew he was multitasking and participating in all battles of the submarine using some kind of otherworldly omniscience, but distracted, Law lost ground, pushed to the edge of submarine.

Jade tore off her jacket and tied it tightly around Shachi's waist, making sure the knot of the sleeves laid perfectly around the wound. She took Shachi's rifle, loaded it on her shoulder, and aimed. She was better with knives than guns, but she'd always been decent with predictions and aim. Besides, no one was going to pay attention to her while fighting the Captain of the Heart Pirates.

Jade's first shot missed the Marine's head narrowly (and also Law's, but she really was aiming for the Marine). It served as enough of a distraction for Law to smash his fist into the Marine's face, forcing him to yield enough ground so that Jade could take a better shot. Her second bullet hit the Marine in the shoulder, and as he reeled from the blow, Law removed his Room and sliced the Marine's head clean off. His decapitated body fell independent of his head, which rolled across the deck and off into the sea, leaving a trial of blood in its wake.

Jade let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Law glanced her way and nodded at her curtly, which she assumed was a show of appreciation.

"You all right?" he said.

"I'm fine, but Shachi…"

"He'll be fine. The wound was small and missed vital organs. I've already anastomosed the arteries to stop bleeding."

"Could your abilities be any more absurd?"

Law just shook his head and opened his mouth to say something else when something whizzed from behind her and lodged straight into Law's leg. The Room that Law had spun out of his palms like cotton candy vanished and Law stumbled backward, collapsing against the railings like a puppet with its strings cut. Jade knew instantly that the bullet had been made out of sea-stone—there was no other explanation for Law suddenly looking like it took every ounce of energy he had to stay standing. Before she could move, a second bullet flew over her head and hit Law again, this time in the shoulder, and the force sent him flying over the rails. She watched in slow motion, Law's body convulsing from the hit, then twisting at odd angles gracefully in an arch over the edge of the ship before disappearing from sight.

There was no one else on the upper deck. Shachi was not fully conscious and the sounds of chaotic fighting on the deck below suggested that no one had even noticed Law fall overboard.

In the time between Law's body disappearing from sight and the splash of it hitting the ocean below, Jade's mind went into overdrive.

 _He can't swim swim._

 _Jump, and you will die._

He _will die._

 _You can always find another lead. If you follow him, you can't help him. You're going to die and nothing is worth that risk._

 _He just saved my life._

 _He saved_ Shachi's _life, not yours._

Jade rarely ever did anything without thinking it through. Every action had an equal and appropriate reaction—that was the law of Nature, and if Jade let Law die now then not all was lost, something of equal value would assume the vacuum Law left behind, and life would continue as it was supposed to. She was not a heroine.

Beside her, Shachi groaned and stirred.

"Fuck," she whispered.

She heard the splash of Law's body hitting the ocean. Jade stopped thinking, leapt over the rails, and dove into the ocean after him, feet first. When the water hit her like an icy blast, sucking all the air out of her with the sensation of a thousand needles piercing her skin, all Jade could hear was the conscience she thought she'd long obliterated blasting the chorus of the "Happy Birthday" song on repeat.

* * *

 _free talk_ : _lots more jade POV this chapter than before._ _hoping the pacing of this chapter was okay._ _thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts!_

 _xoxo,  
m.n_


	5. if i were to sell you

**chapter 5** : if i were to sell you

* * *

 _fact_ : _no fire can burn forever._

* * *

"What's it like to die?"

Everyone turned to Lamie. Mother was so taken aback by the question that her forkful of steak didn't even make it to her mouth. It just hovered in place, and Law, who had long finished his share, watched enviously as it dropped back onto the plate with a wet slap.

"Honey," said Mother, her voice gentle and sweet the way it was whenever Lamie got an injury, which was often because Lamie was always racing the other kids in her class, whether it was climbing trees and skating across frozen ponds. "Where did this come from?"

Lamie sipped at her cola. "I dunno." She didn't seem perturbed, merely curious. "Our class rabbit disappeared. Mister Evans said he gave it away to make some orphan children happy, but Penny said the rabbit died. If it died, where did it go? What does death feel like?"

Father cleared his throat, nervous. "That's a great question, Lamie. It's a tough question, but sometimes those are the best ones because there's no clear answer."

"How is there no clear answer?" Law poked what was left on his plate: asparagus, the worst kind of vegetable. "You see people die all the time at the hospital."

"You do?" said Lamie, eyes wide.

"Law," said Mother, an edge in her voice.

Law ignored her. "I bet it hurts."

"It does?" whispered his sister. "How do you know?"

"I killed a frog yesterday." Law took his knife and cut up the asparagus stalks into tiny pieces. "I bled it out slowly, and it didn't look very comfortable as it died. You could really see the light disappear from its eyes."

There was an awkward silence after Law's statement. He saw his parents exchange looks and wondered what he'd said that made them uncomfortable. Lamie surprisingly didn't look all that horrified, but instead was more pensive.

"Maybe that's not so bad," she said. "Light disappearing."

Law shrugged. "Yeah, I guess not."

"Sounds kind of pretty, actually," she giggled.

Lamie and Law rarely fought. Sure, they annoyed each other, but when it came down to it, the Trafalgar children were equally strange in their own ways, and they appreciated each other for their quirks. Their parents knew better than to stifle oddities when they were the foundation of genius. As long as their children did nothing terribly pathological, they let them go about their business in peace.

Father cleared his throat again.

"Law, why did you kill a frog yesterday?"

"I wanted to see how its heart is different from a human heart," answered the son. "Did you know it only has one ventricle?"

Father beamed at him, evidently relieved with this response. "No, I didn't. Well done, Law."

"If its heart is different from a human's," piped up Lamie, "does that mean the way it experiences death is different?"

"Maybe," said Mother soothingly. "Maybe not. Either way, death can be as peaceful and painless as falling asleep."

"Wake up!"

Law continued slicing his asparagus.

"I hope that's the way our bunny went!"

Law pushed around the asparagus pieces, organizing them by body part. Stems with stems, heads with heads.

"Law, eat your vegetables."

" _Wake up_!"

"I'm sure that's how the bunny went," said Father kindly. "Peaceful and pain—"

 _Painful_.

Law's eyes flew open. Saltwater filled his mouth and he reflexively turned to his side as he simultaneously gasped for air and coughed out the contents of his lungs. His chest screamed as his heart remembered how to beat and his diaphragm contracted and expanded with every thankful breath. It took an inordinate amount of time for him to gather his bearings: cool white sand under his palms, the rumble of the ocean waves behind him. He was on land, but how? A wind blew gently, but Law felt chilled to the bone. His shoulder and leg throbbed. He glanced under him and noticed blood staining the sand. That's right—two gunshot wounds, definitely from sea-stone bullets. He remembered falling overboard, the icy vice grip of the ocean, the certainty of an excruciatingly painful death—

"Captain Trafalgar!"

Law turned haggardly to find Jade staring at him with the wide-eyed concern of a wet cat.

"Are you okay? Can you speak?" She scooted closer to him and spoke very slowly and loudly. "Do—you—understand—me?"

Law pushed her away, but the effort was feeble. "Of course, you idiot."

"Oh, thank Roger." She sounded like she meant it. "I felt like I was doing compressions for forever. I didn't know how long it'd been since you fell overboard."

"You saved me."

Jade nodded, thankfully not judging him for his slow statement of the obvious. "It was a miracle we were so close to land. I think we're actually on Kyuka, I can't be sure. But we need to move inland—I don't know what's happening but the Marines are going to be here any minute to see if they can locate your body. Can you stand?"

He hated being incapacitated, but his Devil's Fruit abilities were inaccessible to him at the moment, whether it was from exhaustion, sea-stone lodged in his body, or perhaps a refractory period post-near-death-experience. Either way, the answer was,

"Not by myself."

Jade nodded again, still nonjudgmental. "Here, arm around my shoulders—yes, there you go. Upsy-daisy, yep, great, one step at a time."

Feeling increasingly ridiculous with Jade's inane bedside manner, Law relied heavily on Jade as they hobbled over the sand toward the forest bordering the beach. If they were contestants in a three-legged race, they would've fared decently well. Jade was tall, surprisingly sturdy, and thankfully uninjured, allowing her to guide them a fair distance into the trees, stopping only when they reached a small clearing near a creek. Frogs burped and crickets chirped as the dead of night rolled on in the absence of the moon. Jade set Law down carefully against a tree trunk and immediately got up again to leave.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" he snapped.

She turned around, surprised with his animosity. "I need to go back and cover up our tracks. You bled the entire way here. Even I would be able to find you, and I only have one eye."

It was a good point, and Law felt stupid for reacting so heatedly. Nearly dying made him testy, and the overwhelming bulk of his remaining circumstances—saved by someone who wasn't his crewmate, unable to use his Devil's Fruit, beaten by nameless Marines, and admittedly frightened of his crew's outcome—did nothing to alleviate his mood. His body throbbed with a deep-seated pain that emanated from his chest, shoulder, and leg. He was shaking, not just from the clinging wet of the ocean or icy bite of sea-stone or the blood loss. It had been a long time since he'd felt fear, but it rose now like an old enemy with a bloody grin, eager to remind him of all that he could lose. Law bit his tongue before he could say anything else stupid, like asking Jade to stay.

Abruptly above him, Jade pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing bare skin and breasts tightly bound by bandages. Before Law could ask what she was doing, she knelt down in front of him and ripped the shirt in two, her biceps flexing as she did. She spoke to him gently, as if she could read his mind and knew how vulnerable he felt.

"Let's get the bullets out of you first." She reached down to her left foot and slid a knife out of the sole of her shoe.

"How many of those do you keep with you?" asked Law hoarsely.

"Enough," was the cryptic answer. She straightened out Law's leg and examined the wound. The bullet had buried into his thigh, but it wasn't deep. He could see the gleam of silver-green skim the surface of his skin. "I can get this one out easily enough." Jade balled up half of her ripped shirt and pressed it to his mouth. "Open up."

"I don't need it," he spat.

"If you scream, Marines are going to find us in two seconds flat."

"I won't scream. Just do it."

Jade looked like she wanted to fight, but gave up with a muttered, "Suit yourself, your masculinity will kill you," under her breath. She placed the tip of her knife at the edge of the wound and took a deep breath in. She did not count down or ask Law if he was ready. She dug in swiftly, and Law bit back a horrible noise as the knife burrowed into his muscle like a maggot through dead flesh. He focused on taking shallow breaths, eyes squeezed shut like it could block out all sensation including pain. His palms fisted in the grass and pulled them out in tufts.

"Thirty seconds," said Jade, cutting around the skin to loosen the bullet.

"Hurry," he gasped.

Blood covered his thigh and Jade's hands in a shining geyser, but Jade's pace never wavered. In a heroic final effort, she wriggled the bullet out with a careful flick. The bullet rolled onto the grass beside them. Jade pocketed it before tying her shirt tightly around Law's leg. Law leaned his head against the tree trunk, perspiring and panting heavily. He felt close to fainting.

"Captain Trafalgar?" Jade snapped her fingers in his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"One more." She pushed the sleeve of his T-shirt up and examined his shoulder carefully with bloodstained fingers. "This one's deep. I can't see the bullet. I…I don't know if I can do this."

"You have to," he said harshly. If Jade left him, he was a sitting duck without his Devil's Fruit. "I can't do shit with this sea stone in my body."

"But if I hit a nerve or something—"

"I'll fix it after I can use my abilities," Law cut in. "Gag me. Just do it."

Jade was visibly distraught but obeyed, stuffing the black cloth in Law's mouth. It tasted of salt and metal. Law clenched his eyes shut as he felt the blade tip hesitantly prod at the wound. Jade had lost the fearless assurance she'd had earlier when she'd pulled the bullet out of his leg. Law understood—poking around a wound blind was always a bad idea—but he was entirely unsympathetic.

His eyes snapped open and he glared at her.

"Do it," he said, muffled against the gag, so it came more out as "Dfffftttt."

Jade whimpered and plunged the blade into his shoulder, and Law could not help but scream.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Jade begged over his shouts, but for what, even she could not know. The knife bore into his muscles, twisting and turning like she was screwing a bolt into the wall, but then they both felt the clink of metal hitting metal, and she located the bullet. Blood poured over both of them. Jade pressed on and Law choked on the gag through his shrieks, and after what felt like an eternity, she withdrew the bullet like she'd just delivered a baby.

Law, drenched in sweat, coughed out the gag and inhaled deeply, as if deep breaths could ease the fire licking underneath his wounds. Slowly but surely, the pain faded from a thrashing heat to a dull, constant throb. He was nowhere near full capacity, but the freezing sensation that had buried in his bones seeped away. He could feel the barest vestiges of his Devil's Fruit ability stir, like a newly born fawn getting to its feet for the first time. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and found his vision blurry.

Jade wiped away the sweat (and possibly tears) from his face with the other half of her shirt before tying his shoulder wound.

"Good job," he croaked.

"You too," she said quietly. "Can you use your abilities again?"

He wriggled his fingers and they thankfully all moved. "I need some time to recover, but after that, I should be able to."

"Good." Jade straightened up. "I need to go cover our tracks."

Law shook his head. "No, we should move. Going back now will reveal you in open sight on the beach. We should get further inland."

"But," Jade started.

A branch cracked behind them, and she jerked around.

"Found him!" shouted a Marine as he emerged in the clearing, his sword drawn. "I found him, he's here!"

"Shit," muttered Law. A blue orb weakly spun out of his palm, reaching the size of an orange before it disappeared.

Jade saw and understood. She whipped around to the Marine and screamed,

"Help me!"

The Marine jolted back, startled by the sudden sound.

"Help me!" said Jade again, running toward the Marine wildly.

He brought his sword up and she stopped in front of him.

"T-Thank Sengoku you're here," she sobbed. "I-I was trying to save this injured man and h-he forced himself on me!"

Law stared at her. _What_?!

"He tore my clothes off," cried Jade, gesturing at her shirtless torso. "Y-You got here right in t-time, p-p-please, save me!"

She couldn't be serious. This ploy just wasn't believable. Law was a centimeter away from the grave, could barely move his own body let alone force it upon someone else, and Jade was covered in too much blood to be an innocent passerby who'd decided to save an unfortunate soul. If this Marine had any brains, he'd stab Jade straight through before advancing on Law next.

"Please sir," gasped Jade, theatrically falling to her knees. "I b-beg you, save me from this evil man! I'll do a-anything you w-want!"

Law stifled a groan. He could see the Marine look at Jade uneasily, but Jade was still a half-naked woman with noticeable breasts even if they were being constrained by bandages, and the Marine still had a penis. His sword lowered.

"Of course, ma'am," he said, voice gentle. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, please stand up and I'll get you to safety."

"Thank you," she sobbed as she got to her feet. "Please let me show you how I could repay you."

The Marine grinned. "Of course—"

Jade sprang up and stabbed him in the neck, once, twice, thrice. The Marine gurgled, blood spraying from the wound and bathing Jade's face, before he fell to the ground without another word. Jade searched his body, took his sword and a small pistol, and pocketed his wallet. She turned to Law, whistling.

"That works maybe thirty percent of the time," she said, matter-of-fact, "but I'm telling you, masculinity kills."

Law scoffed and tried to say something witty in return, but couldn't. His tongue felt like it was made of lead, and the sounds around him suddenly swelled into the belch of one ugly toad before it disappeared into nothingness, and the world went dark.

* * *

The Pentisle was a two-star inn that boasted of "hot water, beds, and breakfast" with the word "occasionally" scrawled in tiny print in the corner of their advertisements. The owner of The Pentisle, a good-natured man by the name of Joel, had inherited the inn from his mother when he was twenty-three years old. It was by no means the most fabulous residential in Kyuka, especially with newer developments boasting of indoor water parks and hot springs, but its motto of "Come for the beach, stay for the beach," was obvious and honest. As a result, The Pentisle attracted a no-nonsense type of crowd: the solitary travelers, the bitter divorcees told by their friends to take a vacation, and yes, the occasional minor criminal.

Joel was typically a good judge of character, even of criminals. He understood that times were hard, and pickpockets and even some pirates were the way they were due to harsh upbringings beyond their control. Joel's mother had taught him from a young age, "Not everyone's as lucky as you to have food on yer table and a roof o'er yer head err'y night," so Joel found it in his heart to give room and board to the panicked teenager running from the neighborhood watch, or the sex worker seeking asylum from her pimp, or the occasional young pirate dodging the Marines. He had a soft spot for young hooligans. As long as they paid and didn't cause any trouble in his inn, Joel was fine housing whomever as long as they understood that should the authorities arrive, he would plead ignorance and they were to fend for themselves.

The first time Joel was not entirely sure he should retain his relative open-door policy was on a late spring night. He'd been dozing off at the front desk, dreaming of a butterfly field where the flowers were made of spun sugar, when the entrance burst open and the stench of salt and blood assaulted his sinuses. A tall woman with one eye and frizzy hair stumbled into the lobby while piggybacking an unconscious man whose limbs dangled over her shoulders. One of them was bleeding, as the floor stained red with every step she took toward the desk, but she approached him with a wide smile.

"Hi," she said breathlessly, clearly winded from her burden. Her face was splattered with blood, and she was indecent, with only bandages tied around her chest. She also only had one eye. "I know this is _very_ unconventional, and I really don't want to cause you any trouble, but we need a place to stay tonight."

Joel looked uneasily at the figure on the woman's back, whose head lolled as she readjusted his weight. "You kill him?"

"Oh, what, no!" she laughed, though nothing about her situation seemed remotely funny. "Absolutely not, he's hurt, but he's still alive, I think? I need to treat him before he dies though."

"Shouldn't you take him to a hospital?"

"Nooo _,_ " she shook her head vigorously. "Very bad idea. Look sir, the less you know, the better, okay? I can pay you ten thousand beli tonight for room and your silence, maybe?"

She peered at him hopefully. Joel stared at her, uncertain.

"You a pirate?"

"I can confidently say that I am not a pirate," she said brightly, "so you can tell the authorities truthfully that to your knowledge, no pirates came this way. Please, a room?" She dug into her pocket and slapped a wad of cash drenched in blood on the counter. "If you keep quiet about us, I'll give you another ten thousand tomorrow."

Joel's gut told him to turn her away. Something about the woman seemed off, but what was stranger was that the unconscious guy on her back seemed even more dangerous, though that seemed irrational because he was currently drooling a little bit onto her shoulder, not to mention being piggybacked was not an intimidating stance to be in.

Joel looked at the money. The sign outside did need some repairs.

"Fine," he relented, taking the cash gingerly and handing over a key. "I'm not even gonna put your name in the registry. For all I know, you don't exist. You're in room 5A."

"Thank you," gushed the woman, grabbing the key. "And I'm not kidding about that additional ten thousand. You'll get it tomorrow night. But if you sell us out to the Marines, and I escape, I'm gonna hunt you down and shove that ten thousand beli down your throat, bill by bill, until you suffocate and die." She beamed at him. "Thanks for your silence. Goodnight!"

She hobbled out of the lobby and out of sight, leaving a trail of blood behind her as evidence. Joel picked up the phone and called housekeeping.

"Yeah, Bill? We're gonna need some bleach. Some fool got blood on the floor again."

* * *

The room was tiny and musty, with only one bed, a rickety nightstand, and a junky kitchenette in the corner as the only forms of furniture. An old, weathered umbrella nestled against the coat-hanger, forlorn in its solitude. The shower was moldy and the mirror was cracked, and a thin film of dust adhered comfortably to all surfaces, but Jade had never found a room so beautiful. She plopped Law down on the bed and ran to grab all the towels she could find in the bathroom and a rusty pot from the kitchenette's cabinet. She filled the pot up with water and sat it on the stove before running back to Law to see what she should do next.

Law was breathing—shallowly, yes, but breathing at least, so that was a great sign. What was not so great was that he was still bleeding from his wounds, which was probably why he looked _so pale_ , which meant Jade had to redress his wounds without any supplies. Carefully, she wiggled Law's shirt off his head, revealing a torso covered in tattoos of hearts, tribal signs, and other swirly ink that Jade didn't know what to make sense of. If she weren't in a life-or-death situation, she would've loved to run her hands over his abs and see if they were real or also tattooed on, but truthfully, she didn't need to touch him to know that Law was incredibly fit despite being so lean. He was quite nice to look at when he was unconscious because he wasn't trying to scowl her to death.

After making sure Law was well and truly out of it, she unwound the bandages across her chest, dumped them into the pot of boiling water along with half the towels, and put Law's filthy shirt on. It clung to her skin uncomfortably, but otherwise fit decently well and was thankfully not one of Law's ugly yellow shirts with polka-dot sleeves.

Jade worked meticulously but efficiently, cleaning Law's wounds out with the towels and wrapping them tightly in the boiled bandages. They were still wet, which probably wasn't ideal because the warm moisture served as a delicious breeding ground for bacteria, but better to stop the bleeding first and worry about infection later. Besides, Law had said he could fix all problems with his magical abilities once he woke up. If he woke up.

She finished tying the last bandage neatly in place and took a lukewarm shower. As she toweled her hair dry, Jade sat down next to Law on the creaky mattress and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. The red, glowing letters blared five forty-five. She felt like she'd been hit by a cannonball. There was no way of knowing the outcome of the battle at the Polar Tang, if the Marines had arrested all the Hearts or if the rest of the crew had managed to escape. Marines could be swarming Kyuka at this instant, searching for the Surgeon of Death whose corpse had somehow slipped through their fingers. Jade needed information, but she'd need to leave Law to obtain it, and she wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

"Don't."

Jade halted mid-yawn. "Sorry?"

Silence. Law had rolled onto his side, putting pressure on his injured shoulder. Jade pushed him gently so that he was lying fully on his back, but even when unconscious, Law resisted anyone telling him what to do. It took more effort than she'd wanted to force the unresponsive pirate in place; after almost five minutes of one-sided struggle, Jade found herself straddling Law's hips while he thrashed beneath her.

"Captain. Trafalgar," she said loudly. "Stop. Being. Difficult."

"Don't."

"Don't what," she said, exasperated. "I'm just trying to help you not bleed to death!"

"Please."

Jade froze. Law's brow was furrowed, mirroring his deep frown. A fine sheet of sweat covered his skin, coalescing in beads that rolled over his cheeks like tears. His voice trembled slightly, and though she did not know who Law was speaking to or what he was seeing behind those closed eyelids, the word echoed of a begging prayer.

She did not know Law well. Any rumors she heard of him painted him as a terrible, horrifying man, and truthfully when it came to interactions with her, Law had not proved those rumors wrong. She was impressed with his leadership, the respect he commanded from his crew, but never in the weeks that she had known him had Law ever been anything besides the picture of composure. Even hours ago, when she'd pulled bullets out of his skin, he'd been level and controlled. "Please" was a word Jade intrinsically knew that Law used rarely and would never have allowed himself to willingly utter in her presence.

Her hand rested over his shoulder. Without much thought, it trailed lower, over his damp and blazing skin, until it rested over his heart. The organ fluttered under her fingertips, anxious as a hummingbird's wings, and she knew that it was too quick for it to be healthy. Yet, there was still something reassuring about knowing that Law's body could respond in the way it did. She'd half-expected there to be no heart at all, metaphorical or literal.

She waited several minutes to ensure that Law was no longer struggling underneath her before climbing gingerly off him. Law's breathing resumed an even, deep rhythm, and whatever nightmare he suffered through seemed to dissipate. Or perhaps it was more likely that Law's infamous control was rearing its head and had regained the reins, no matter that he was on the brink of death.

Jade let out a deep, weary sigh. Law's clothes clung to her skin the way Den-Den Mushi hugged morning dew.

She did not need to know Law well. It was better for both of them if he remained a sadistic psychopath and she remained, well, essentially the same thing. There was no need to be personal, no demand for feelings to be involved.

But it did not escape her that she had just saved his life more than once. And that in those times of crises, Law had ordered her to act, and without much protest, she had listened. There was an underlying trust between them—perhaps more one-sided than shared—that had no foundation.

Beside her, Law stirred and made a noise of discomfort. She checked his bandages, ensured that no blood seeped through them, before lying down next to him, regretful in the knowledge that when the time came to trade Law's life away, the decision would prove to be more difficult than she'd anticipated.

* * *

In the early, dark hours of the morning, the Polar Tang emerged from beneath the sea briefly to allow four figures (who had thankfully changed out of their uniforms into less inconspicuous clothing) onto the shores of Kyuka. Unnoticed by any Marines, the submarine swiftly sank beneath the ocean surface as quietly as it rose, out of sight and into safety.

Penguin, Bepo, Ikkaku, and Uni ran in a huddle across the beach and into the forest. The polar bear led his pack, nose pointed and ears perked as he followed something that only he could discern.

"Are you sure it's him?" said Uni not for the first time.

Bepo didn't appreciate the challenge to his authority. "Yes. I'm positive. It's even stronger now."

"I just don't get how you can smell someone _through_ the ocean."

"It's not just anyone—it's _Captain_. I've done this before," said Bepo shortly. "It's not the first time he's fallen overboard."

"He didn't fall." Ikkaku reshuffled her medical bag on her shoulder. "I bet that barnacle pushed him overboard."

Penguin made a derisive noise of agreement. "I hope Captain chopped her into pieces the moment he got to shore."

"Or maybe she drowned," offered Uni.

"Nope," said Bepo, nose wrinkling as they delved deeper through the brambles. "I can smell her."

With Bepo as leader, it was easy for branches to snap back and smack anyone in the face once the bear passed through. Twice, Penguin narrowly ducked a sapling as it swept his hat into the air, which was saved by a graceful jump from Ikkaku both times. Penguin was so focused on not being assaulted by greenery that he missed the trail of blood that grew progressively more noticeable until they stumbled into a clearing near a babbling creek. Like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in the middle of the pasture lied the body of a uniformed Marine in a puddle of his own blood.

Uni let out a low whistle. "Well, not the Captain's cleanest work."

"Don't think it was him," said Ikkaku, bending down and examining the body. "Three stabs, straight into the left jugular. Would've only taken Captain one. Plus, he would've sliced, not stabbed. Cleaner way to sever the vessel."

"He was here for sure though." Bepo gestured at a distant puddle of blood, smaller but still significant, against a large oak. "That's his."

"Shit. That's a lot."

"So where's he now?" Penguin said, circling the clearing. "He's injured, he couldn't have gotten far."

"I don't think he could've gone anywhere alone," frowned Ikkaku, "not with that amount of blood loss. Looks like barnacle killed the Marine and took Captain somewhere."

"So she's helping him?" said Penguin, disbelieving.

"Maybe," answered Bepo. "Their scents leave together. If she wanted him dead, she would've just left him here or given him up to the Marines."

"Or she's holding him for ransom," said Ikkaku.

Penguin snorted. "Good luck with that. Captain could kill her without lifting a single finger."

"He'd need one finger," said Uni, deadpan.

"It's a figure of speech, Uni."

"Lack of precision leads to chaos, and I think we've had enough of that today."

Penguin had to agree with that, but he really hated how much of a know-it-all Uni was, so he just grunted in response as they continued to their search. After nearly half an hour of following a visible blood trail, which Ikkaku wisely covered up behind her, they reached a ramshackle inn with a half-lit sign that read "PEN IS."

"Is this a brothel?" said Ikkaku, amazed.

"I hope not," said Penguin. "That's low hanging fruit for a name."

"Maybe that's just the kind of fruit they're looking for," Ikkaku snickered.

"I can't believe she brought Captain to a brothel!" gaped Bepo. "Is that what she brought him here for? To prostitute him?"

"Wait, what?"

"Think about it!" said Bepo, now breaking out into a run toward the building. "She's a slaver! Captain is a beautiful man, what if she thought she could sell him as a sex slave? She'd get so much money!"

Penguin wasn't convinced. "That makes…"

"Perfect sense!" cried Bepo in his conviction. "Captain, just wait, I'll save you!"

They burst through the entrance, startling the receptionist out of a deep sleep.

"Hands up!" demanded Penguin, pointing his gun at the front desk.

The receptionist (whose nametag read Joel) raised his arms in surrender immediately. "D-Don't shoot, please!"

"We're looking for our captain," said Ikkaku, unfurling an old bounty picture of Law and showing it to the terrified man. "Have you seen him?"

The receptionist studied the photo, then paled. "N-No, I h-haven't—"

"Don't lie," interrupted Ikkaku, unsheathing her scalpel and twirling it expertly through her fingers. "What's the point of your tongue if you can't speak the truth?"

"T-they're in 5A!" said Joel, squinting his eyes shut. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Go, go, go!" ordered Bepo. "Save Captain's million beli penis!"

They scrambled to room 5A. Without preparing the rest of them, Bepo kicked down the door as if it were made of straw, only to be barraged immediately by the point of an antique umbrella. It jabbed straight into Bepo's belly, causing the bear to squeal and lurch back, before it retracted and immediately came swiping down with impressive control toward Bepo's head. Penguin blocked the umbrella with his spear and forced the assailant back, but only briefly before the umbrella resumed its attack with renewed purpose.

"Barnacle!"

Jade brandished her umbrella in front of her like a sword. She looked exhausted but determined, thought it didn't account for much. She was dressed only in what had to be Law's T-shirt, and it took Penguin a second to recognize her without her sunglasses.

"Mister Penguin," said Jade, relieved. "You guys are okay."

"Where's—Captain!" Ikkaku rushed forward, her bag in hand. Jade stepped immediately out of her way, only for Bepo to pin her against the wall. She cringed at the sight of Bepo's jagged snarl, but made no movement to fight back and instead let her umbrella drop to the ground.

"What did you do to him?!" demanded Bepo.

"I saved his life, Mister Bepo," she said with a strained smile. "He fell overboard after a Marine shot him twice with sea-stone bullets. I fished him out of the water and brought him here."

"To a whorehouse?!"

"What?" blanched Jade. "Whorehouse?" Her one visible eye skimmed her surroundings. "I know this place is dingy but have you _been_ to a whorehouse, Mister Bepo?"

"The sign outside says penis! This place clearly deals in penises, and you were about to cut off Captain's and sell it to some creepy old man for a fortune—"

"Why would I cut off his penis and sell it—why wouldn't I just sell him?!"

"Ha, so you _are_ going to sell him!"

"Of course not, I'm just pointing out the failed logic of your accusation—"

"It's a perfectly logical conjecture, what good comes out of an establishment named 'Penis'?"

"It's not called that!"

"And why are you wearing our captain's clothes?" Bepo demanded, eying the filthy T-shirt with horror. "Did you take advantage of Captain?"

"By Sengoku's mustache I did _not_! I saved his life! I fished him out of the water and brought him to land, revived him, took out those sea-stone bullets, _and_ killed those Marines because he was useless—"

"How dare you call him useless!"

"She's telling the truth." Ikkaku gestured to the bandages tightly wound around Law's shoulder and leg. "From the amount of blood we saw in the clearing, Captain was probably unconscious the entire time, even less likely able to use his Devil's Fruit. Barney protected him."

"Oh." Bepo sheepishly let Jade go and looked down at his feet, contrite. "Sorry."

Jade smiled. "It's okay, Mister Bear." She turned to Penguin next, who glared at her as best he could through his swollen eyelids. Hours later, the hot sauce still burned, as if his eyelashes had been permanently infused with chili oil.

"How's Shachi?" asked Jade hesitantly. "And everyone else?"

"Fine," said Penguin gruffly. "They're all fine."

"Okay," she said, visibly relieved. "Great."

The words left Penguin's mouth before he could rein them in.

"Thanks. For helping him."

Jade looked startled and said nothing in return, prompting Penguin to continue.

"You didn't have to. But you did. When we…when we failed him." He joined Bepo's interest in his feet while his face burned hot with shame. "I was supposed to back him up and I couldn't even do that. So thanks for saving our captain."

When Jade smiled this time, her one functional eye crinkled slightly and Penguin wanted to believe that for once, it was a genuine smile.

"Hold your gratitude until your captain wakes up, will you? Nothing's worse than planning your next luxury purchase before money's even changed hands."

* * *

Rejoined by pirates who clearly did not know what to do with her, much less how to feel about her, Jade crouched against a moldy corner of the motel room and shut her eyes. She was truly exhausted, but her body had reached the point of pushing past her initial bedtime and she was left feeling weary to her bones but unable to sleep. The pirates whispered amongst themselves nervously as they fussed over their Captain, but only Ikkaku seemed to genuinely know what she was doing so the rest were left biting their nails as they waited. Jade's mood unfortunately matched theirs. She was worried about Law—he was horribly pale and his breathing labored—but she did not dare show it. The concern she'd felt for the Hearts Captain that evening shocked even her; while compressing Law's chest, she'd found herself praying to some god who'd forsaken her long ago. She could not remember the last time she'd prayed for herself, much less the last time she'd cared about someone enough to pray for them. The question of why was one she couldn't answer herself.

 _It's for Shachi_ , she thought. _It was to return the favor to Shachi._

Jade was a good liar, but not good enough to fool herself.

Two hours after the Hearts arrived, when Jade was dozing in and out of an uncomfortable slumber, Law finally stirred.

"Captain!"

Jade's eyes snapped open and she sat up straight to see Law struggling to do the same. Careful, Ikkaku wrapped an arm round Law and eased him until he was leaning against the headboard. Law looked like a man who'd climbed back from the barest pits of hell by the skin of his teeth, face gaunt and eyes horrendously shadowed, but he was undeniably alive and conscious, and for some reason that filled Jade with an overwhelming relief. The captain looked around the room, taking stock of his bearings, before his eyes finally found Jade in the corner of the room.

"Captain Trafalgar," she said, scrambling to her feet. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he croaked in the least convincing declaration of the word possible.

Ikkaku snapped her fingers at Uni. "Get some water for him."

Law took the dirty mug of water from Uni with an appreciative nod. The rest of them waited with bated breath as he drank it and sloshed it all over himself. When he finished, he wiped his chin with the back of his functional arm and resumed his unabashed focus on Jade.

"You saved my life," he said in the tone of one who was forced to grovel at the feet of an earthworm.

"Twice," pointed out Jade in the middle of a yawn.

Law's face twisted like an abscess had just exploded pus in his mouth. "Yes."

They stared at each other in several seconds of silence, which the rest of the Hearts kindly respected by looking between the two of them, bewildered. Finally, Law spoke again, the words coming as reluctantly as if they were a part of his soul being laid bare.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said pleasantly.

More silence ensued. It was obvious that Law was not an especially thankful person, though Jade was sure his life did not contain enough fortune for him to be one of those annoying individuals filled with perpetual and effusive gratitude. All things, good or bad, were things that Law clearly preferred to seize on his own terms, and to have to attribute some fortune to a hateful stranger seemed to stress him considerably. That was fine with her. She did not mind seeing him grovel.

Law finally looked away from her.

"What happened to everyone else?"

Penguin answered. "We didn't lose anyone. Shachi hadn't woken up when we'd left him but Ikkaku said he was gonna be okay. Takon's wound reopened but nothing that the rest of us can't handle."

Law nodded. "The sub?"

Penguin frowned. "Not great. We're gonna need days if not weeks to repair. Our rudders were damaged and the lowest floor sprang a slow leak. We patched it up temporarily but it's going to need something more permanent in the long run."

"Fuck," said Law, rubbing his forehead. "I didn't want to get stranded here. Kyuka doesn't have any resources. Did we kill all the Marines?"

"Sank all three ships at least. We can go back and salvage any materials later tonight."

"Don't think we killed them all though," said Law, thinking aloud. "The ones who found Miss Everly and me ashore appeared too quickly."

Jade shook her head. "I think those were Marines stationed in Kyuka to begin with. The ships that ambushed us must have alerted those on land. The ones who found us were too green to be accomplished Grand Line sailors."

"That makes things worse," exhaled Law.

"There will be Marines swarming all over looking for you," agreed Jade. "You all need to stay undercover. I can go and grab supplies. Out of all of us, I should be the one who's least likely to be recognized."

"Like hell you're going anywhere alone," said Penguin indignantly.

"Mister Penguin, give me a better alternative. The sun is rising, Kyuka's a vacation island, and you're all dressed in those horrible boiler suits. Bounty posters are going to be plastered left and right. I have no reason to harm any of you, as I hope I proved last night."

"But—"

"She's right," interrupted Law.

The rest of his team looked at him, aghast.

"She had every opportunity to turn me in last night. Whatever her eventual motive is, it's not to trade me into the Marines."

"Precisely," said Jade, pleased that Law had come around to her side so quickly. "Besides, gentleman, lady," she added, nodding to Ikkkau, "how would you all exactly stop me? From my understand, Captain Trafalgar can't control his powers at the moment, can he?"

Law's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something nasty, but Jade cut him off. Knowing that Law was unable to make a Room emboldened her. If it was just a matter of escaping the Hearts, all she'd have to do was chuck a blade at Law's injured profile and make a run for it while the rest of his men protected him. She wouldn't really do it—she genuinely was concerned for his wellbeing—but it felt nice to not be threatened by him for once. She saw the barest flash of blue spinning out of Law's palms, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. His abilities were still in flux, and she knew that she was safe.

"You have one hour," said Law. "If you're not back within that time, I'll burn this city to the ground until I found your corpse."

It was the first time Law had ever extended the barest bit of trust toward her, and she intended to exploit it, because consciences were useless and she had no need for sentiment.

Jade smiled. "As always, a pleasure doing business with you, Captain. In the meantime, could you return my sunglasses to me? My having one eye is probably the most noticeable thing about me. Wouldn't want to launch my own bounty poster as the Heart Pirates' Cyclops."

Law looked confused for a brief second, as if wondering how in the world he could have possession of something so trivial, before realization dawned on him and he reached slowly into his pants pocket. The silver metallic lenses shined brightly in the budding sunlight, and Jade reached happily for them, pleased that they'd survived so much turmoil. That was what fifty thousand beli Lilian quality bought: the approval of the Amazonian queen, quality, and endurance.

Law's fingers curled around the frames and they snapped cleanly in two, right at the nose bridge.

"Oops," said Law tonelessly. "That's what happens when I can't control my powers."

Sentiment was a flitting beast. She should've just sold Law to the Marines.

* * *

"Captain, I really think you should just rest—"

"Or just let us do whatever you want to do."

"Shut up," said Law through gritted teeth. His entire body ached, but his shoulder and leg throbbed with a raw pang that sent his head spinning. He'd lost an inordinate amount of blood the night before, and his chest was severely bruised from where Jade had performed compressions. The overwhelming exhaustion steeped in his bones reminded him that his crew mates were probably right—for a man who'd very nearly died several hours ago, he was probably biting off more than he could chew.

Jade had left for Kyuka's downtown district, where supposedly most of the kiosks for food and clothing were located. He hoped that she had the foresight to also stop by a pharmacy for medical supplies; his bandages were soaked through with sweat and blood, the perfect nesting ground for infection. He would've reminded her, but she seemed so furious that he'd broken her sunglasses that she'd left in a hurried huff.

It was bright and early in the morning; the pinks of sunrise were only now fading into baby blue. Penguin established contact with the rest of the crew aboard the Polar Tang to relay orders for standby and avoid engagement with Marines. In the meantime, Uni had reserved the adjacent room from the much reluctant Joel, who did not seem to appreciate being held at gunpoint by a polar bear, but did not have much choice as he had muttered, "Your crazy one-eyed girlfriend tried to shove a beli bill down my throat before she left." Law assured him that worse fates would befall him if Marines showed up at their doorstep, though he didn't hold much confidence in the innkeeper given how easily his crew mates had found him.

After demanding time alone—time that his crew mates only yielded after Law promised to sleep—the Heart Captain found himself with eyes flitting closed as he stared at a baby Den-Den Mushi in his lap. Law had slipped the Mushi's partner into Jade's pocket in the brief second his Room had lasted earlier. He was grateful for Jade's assistance the night before, but he was not stupid. He had no intention of allowing her to run free, not when the slaver they were supposed to be meet was nearby.

It was incredible how little about Jade he knew, given the weeks she'd been aboard his ship. True, Law had not especially attempted to bond with her, but he tended to learn more through observation. Certain traits had begun to bleed through the cracks of Jade's unfailingly smiling veneer—a violent temper, a morality with shaky foundations—but while personality was helpful to know, it struck Law as odd that she guarded her past so vehemently. Law did the same, but he did not often meet people who crafted their narratives so perfectly around their present like he did. This was muddled all the more by what had seemed like an honest, desperate attempt to not just protect him but also Shachi during the battle.

Through the Mushi's muffled reception, the rollercoasters and water slides hummed peacefully in anticipation of the chaos that would certainly ensue in the later hours, eager to bask in leisure. The first thing Jade bought was a pair of sunglasses, which was accompanied by calling Law several foul names, but the sour mood dissipated as Jade made her way through the shops, laughing at the shopkeepers' advances, bargaining for buy-three-get-one-free deals. Law dozed off as Jade went to the pharmacy and bought bandages and antibiotic ointment, almost missing when Jade asked the cashier casually,

"Excuse me, how could I get to Shining Avenue?"

Law opened his eyes. _53 Shining Avenue_. It was where Vorax Simon, the slaver, lived.

"Thanks," said Jade after the cashier gave her instructions. She took her time as she ambled down the street, her plastic bags heavy and rustling, and she counting the house numbers aloud. "Forty-nine, fifty-one…perfect, fifty-three."

Knocks emitted from the Mushi's receiver, followed half a minute later by an annoying doorbell that sounded more like a parrot's squawk than a chime. When no one came to the door, the ringing grew more incessant, and the parrot began to sound gradually under greater duress. Law could picture Jade perfectly, that poised smile plastered to her lips as she took no problem being as irritating as possible.

The door finally creaked open. "What the blazes d'you want at this time of day?!"

"Hello, Mister Vorax." Jade's tone was bland and practiced. "My name is Everly Jade."

"The fuck do I care?"

"I'm a slaver," Jade said, completely unfazed by Vorax's hostility. "I was referred to you by Mister Otterman. I hope he told you about me."

"Otterman? I haven't heard from that guy in ages."

"Really? He said you two were on good terms."

Vox snorted. "That's what he'd like to believe. Was always petty 'bout my fortune…just 'cause he blew his earnings the moment he got 'em, never invested."

"Certainly," said Jade pleasantly "Your house is beautiful, sir."

"Thanks," he said gruffly. "Invested in this baby after my first big sale."

"Was that the Devil's Fruit one?" Jade sounded genuinely interested. "Mister Otterman said you got an extraordinary price for it."

"Nah, that came years later. And even then, I wish I'd gotten more outta it. Though the Fruit ability was pretty dumb, so it was a hard sale…"

"What was the ability?"

"Ability to turn into a slug…real disappointing showcase." Vorax cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. "Never mind. What're you doing in Kyuka? Slavers ain't welcome here. I'm retired."

"Oh, I'm not aiming to do business here," said Jade. "I was hoping to get some information from you and to take a look at your old records, if you have them. Do you mind if I come in?"

"I'm not just gonna let a stranger waltz into my home and snoop around."

"Understandably. I can pay you, though. And I have some information that may be of interest to you as well."

"Like I said, I'm retired."

Jade's voice dropped ever so slightly. "Really? From my understanding, anyone who deals with Joker doesn't ever get to retire."

"Woman," hissed Vox. There was some shuffling, a small gasp from Jade as she was pulled into the house, and the door clacked shut behind her. "You a fool? What're you doing, blarin' that name around like that?"

"It's the only way you'd take me seriously."

"How'd you even—"

There was a thud, followed by a grunt of pain.

"W-Watch that blade!"

"I'm asking the questions," said Jade swiftly. "I don't intend to hurt you, Mister Vorax, but I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so please bear with me. Are you still in contact with Joker? Or Disco?"

Who was Disco? Law made a mental note to look it up later.

Vorax was indignant. "Course not, they ain't the type you call with life updates!"

"Could you get in contact with them if you wanted to?"

"For what?"

"I want to work for them. In Sabaody's Human Auction House. I hear that's where they have all the best sales and extensive records too. If you've worked with them before, I'd love to have a referral from you."

"Look, I don't even know ya. I can't just blindly call Disco up to give him a recommendation."

"And you don't have to. Just give them a message for me, will you? I tried to call them on a number I found in the Underworld but I don't know if it was legitimate. Tell them I can bring them Trafalgar Law. I know Joker wants him."

Law stared at the Mushi. He didn't know why he felt surprised, and he didn't have it in him to be angry. Perhaps his blood loss had blunted his ability to process shocking information effectively. In no way did he think of Jade as anything more than a hostile onboard, but part of him could not help but be betrayed by the ghastly contradiction to her heroic efforts the night before. When Jade had dug out the bullet out of his arm, profusely apologizing all the while, Law had genuinely believed her. She didn't want to hurt him.

 _Of course_ , he thought numbly. He was just merchandise. Living merchandise was always better than dead, and she was right. If Joker wanted him, he was worth infinitely more than his Marine bounty.

"I heard of that name," said Vorax slowly. "He's that rookie from North Blue. Why would Joker want a newbie?"

"I don't know, and I don't care, honestly." Graphite scratched against paper. "Here's my name and my message box. I know this all seems really far-fetched, but if the rumors are true, Joker wants Trafalgar badly. If I succeed, he'll pay a ridiculous amount. I can give you a five-percent cut for just passing a message. And if I fail, no harm done to you."

Paper crumpled—Vorax had taken the information.

"Fine. I'll call Disco with the message. No one has a direct line to Joker except for him."

"Great. Thank you. And by the way, Law will want to come by later to look through your records. Do me a favor and pretend like I wasn't here, all right?"

"Sure."

There was a clack, the sound of a blade being re-sheathed.

"You're young to be doin' this kind o' work," Vorax remarked. "Trafficking a pirate, no less. Sure you can take care o' yourself?"

"Been taking care of myself for the last ten years, Mister Vorax. Risk is a part of the lifestyle."

"Ten years, eh…I thought it when I saw you, but we're so far from the New World, I couldn't be sure."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I lived in the New World during the peak of my slaving career. Sold more than a couple women from Dressrosa in my lifetime. You're a long way from home, missy."

Law suddenly felt as if he'd been frozen over by one of Supreme Admiral Aokiji's legendary glaciers. _Dressrosa. A country far away from here, one that you'd never see_. He knew this country. He knew nothing about it, hadn't the faintest idea where it was, could barely fathom the New World when he'd just entered the Grand Line. But he knew the name of this country, the country that Corazon had tried to save but because of Law, had failed. The country ruled by Donquixote Doflamingo, when he took over as its king ten years ago.

Law knew this country, and he just knew that whatever the circumstances of Jade's life were—why she was all the way out in North Blue, slaving, trying to find information that she would not yield, how she'd lost her eye—that all of this was related to Doflamingo, was related to him.

He, somehow, in some way, was responsible for Everly Jade.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," said Jade sweetly.

"You don't have to fake it. Strong-willed woman, dark-skinned, and you can't hide how your hair curls…and daggers like that only come from one place. There was a surge of Dressrosan women who ended up on the market about a decade ago, but it only lasted for a year or so. Hugely popular. You live up to the reputation, don't you? Beautiful but passionate and prone to stabbing. People love buyin' things they can break. Haven't seen someone like you in a long time."

"…You sold Dressrosans then?"

Jade's voice had lost all of the poise it normally contained. It shook with something ugly, something livid and uncontrollable. The unmistakable clink of a blade emanated as clear as a bell, and Vorax took a step back.

"Hey, whoa, I'm just talking slaver-to-slaver. Didn't think it'd be a big deal—"

"I think you should call Disco right now."

"W-What?"

"Mister Vorax, if you've met Dressrosan women, then you know we don't like to repeat ourselves." There was a distinct thud, and Vox suddenly screamed in pain. "They start stabbing when they're angry. I try not to get angry, you know, because I tend to get in trouble when my temper gets the best of me, but I've been under a lot of stress and the man who I'm normally too frightened of to do anything stupid around isn't here to keep me in check so…" There was the squelch of a blade digging into wet flesh and Vox screamed louder, "you really should make that call before I get any angrier."

"I-I'll call! Please! Just stop!"

A cabinet slid open and numbers hastily punched into a Mushi. There was a delay, followed by four rings, then an automated voice message system. Jade must've given Vox a look, because he begged,

"L-Let me try again! It's early, Disco's a late sleeper."

"Go ahead."

The sequence repeated itself, and this time on the last ring, someone finally picked up.

"Is this seriously Vorax? You MIA for years, and now you're calling me up at the crack of dawn?!"

"Disco, my old friend!" Vorax said shakily. "You know I wouldn't bother you if it weren't something important!"

"It better be bloody important, 'cause—"

Disco's sentence was cut off by Vorax shrieking, followed by three dull squelches of steel hitting flesh as he was stabbed in what had to be the neck to elicit that gurgling sound before his body fell to the floor.

"Vorax? Vorax!"

"Hello, Mister Disco."

"Who the fuck are you? What'd you do to Vorax?"

"My name is Everly Jade. Mister Vorax has been disposed of, which I'm sure you're happy about. I imagine Joker doesn't like loose ends, even when they're retired. I'm sure you were just going to trace this call and send assassins to kill him anyway."

Disco gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Anyway," continued Jade. "I'm hoping to pass a message onto Joker. I have Trafalgar Law, and I am currently sailing to Sabaody Archipelago."

"You're the same woman who called about Alfalfa Low!"

"They're one and the same, Mister Disco. I heard from multiple sources in the Underworld that Joker holds Mister Trafalgar in high regard."

"That rookie just entered the Grand Line. Chances are you ain't even gonna make it all the way out here."

"That's possible, but I'm a determined person and Captain Trafalgar seems like the formidable type who won't die so easily."

"Fine, say you get here, and say we can make the exchange. What do you want in return?"

"I'm looking for people from Dressrosa whom you sold ten years ago. A mother and son around eight years old."

"That's it? That's all the information you have?"

"It's not like I can provide anymore," said Jade, her voice now distinctly icy. "It's not like you denote names in your records."

"You got that right," muttered Disco. "No numbers then?"

"I don't remember them as numbers."

"Fine. It'll take some combing, but I'll send some people to work on it. But I'm not gonna tell Joker anything. You still have a long way to go."

"I know. But something tells me Joker already knows."

"Eh?"

"I'll be in touch, Mister Disco. Goodbye."

The call ended, leaving Law listening to a static-ridden silence perforated by the occasional drip-drip-drip of what had to be Vorax's blood onto the ground. He heard Jade take a deep breath in and let it out slowly, clearly trying to regain composure, but each subsequent breath grow shakier and shakier until he knew for certain that she was sobbing, loud hiccups and a runny nose that contrasted strikingly from the woman who had just stabbed a man in the neck thrice without much hesitation.

Everly Jade was a bundle of contradictions, a disastrous consequence of Law's past, and a danger to his future that needed to be disposed of. But Law knew, now that he knew where she was from, he would not kill Everly Jade for her treason. Not when there was penance to be paid.

Perhaps barnacles had hearts after all.

* * *

 _free talk_ :

 _thanks for reading and for your patience with this chapter! lots of plot and character development in this one. there have been little hints at jade being dressrosan from the beginning, (being from the grand line/new world, her love for spicy foods, the penchant to stab, her hair, etc.) but still a big reveal. hope you enjoyed, and please review!_

 _xoxo,  
m.n_


	6. how much dreams weigh

**chapter 6: how much dreams weigh**

* * *

 _fact: the greatest defense to disappointment is to expect nothing at all._

* * *

When Jade was a little girl, she cried freely and often. Dressrosan women were not known for hiding their emotions: quick to laugh, swift to cry, prone to anger. Even by her early teenage years, Jade had all the makings of a quintessential Dressrosan woman. She was tall and tan, smart-mouthed and fearless. When she cried, she was not being weak, but instead expressing herself honestly, and that was what Dressrosan women valued above all else: passionate honesty.

Now, ten years after, Jade couldn't remember the last time she'd considered herself an honest woman, or the last time she'd shed a tear. Maybe when she'd woken up in the dead of night ten years ago and found Dressrosa in flames. Maybe it was when she'd lost her eye. No, she didn't think she actually cried when she lost her eye. Or if she did, she couldn't tell. Too much blood.

It was probably more recent than that. The last time she'd cried, she'd found herself shipped all the way to the frigid frost of North Blue, further away than ever from home despite seven years of patience. She was inclined to bursts of anger to irrational levels, the remnants of her emotional suppression, but tears—tears were reserved for situations where she felt truly helpless, reminded time and time again that the world she lived in was not one she would have ever chosen for herself.

She shouldn't have killed Vorax. It was a foolish error, a crime of passion, that she now did not know how to rectify: what would she tell Law? She could plead self-defense but he knew better than that. He'd guess immediately that it was an intentional murder, as most murders were, that she had killed Vorax because he knew something that she wanted buried. Law would kill her instantly.

Jade brushed aside her tears and stared intently at Vorax's body, which was still pooling blood from the jugular. She could flee and try to leave traces behind, a breadcrumb trail to Sabaody for the Hearts to follow, but there was no guarantee she was interesting enough bait for them to follow her so far. Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe she'd just find her way to Sabaody first and wait for them to get there—but who knew how long that would take? Months, years, decades? She could not wait that long. Since stumbling upon Trafalgar Law, Jade had ridden the high of actually feeling hope. Law was a man destined to do great things, including getting her home, whether or not he was aware. She would not let this chance go.

The best thing to do was to make the whole scene disappear. If she cleaned quickly, buried Vorax, and pretended like she'd never been here, it would be reasonable for Law to believe that Vorax, tipped off by Otterman or the presence of Marines, had made a run for it on his own. Jade checked the time—she'd done her shopping fairly quickly and had fifteen minutes left in her hour. It was a long shot, but she had to try.

Jade fled to the kitchen in search of bleach and trash bags and was rummaging the cabinets intently when she heard an abrupt cough behind her. She whirled around, brandishing a canister of bleach like it could spout flames, only to find Trafalgar Law standing in front of her, looking simultaneously like the Grim Reaper and the soul he'd arrived to claim. The blood froze in her veins.

"H-how," she stammered.

Law looked like he was about to keel over any minute. It was a miracle he was even able to stand upright, though he was leaning heavily on the shabby umbrella branded with "Pentisle" in faded silver letters. He was very pale and a thin sheen of sweat shone over his skin. Jade realized that if there was a time she could outrun Trafalgar Law, it was now.

He read her mind. "Don't bother. Bepo's at the front door and Penguin's at the back. Ikkaku is in the street and Uni in the yard. You can't outrun all of us."

"They're not worried I could kill you?" said Jade boldly. "You're barely conscious."

Law smirked. "Please."

Law's confidence in himself was _unbelievable._ Jade was right about to spray bleach in his face when Law spoke again.

"Not that you could, mm? What use to Joker would I be dead?" Law stretched out his palm. "I'll take my Den-Den back, now that it's served its purpose."

"Den-Den?"

"Your right pocket."

Sure enough, she retrieved a small Baby snail from her pocket. It gave her the same smirk that Law had as she placed it carefully back in its owner's hand, and she was seized with the desire to douse it in salt. Law patted it gently on the head with his thumb, and the snail crooned happily before retreating back to its shell.

"So you heard everything," she said dumbly.

"I did," was the staid reply.

She expected more, either anger or amusement or at least betrayal, but Law said nothing. Jade shifted carefully on her feet, preparing for any retaliation or the casual decapitation by umbrella. Law's expression was schooled to its typical dispassion, which Jade found more irritating than her own smile.

"So now what?" she demanded. "You know what I've been up to now. Time for me to die?"

"How dramatic," said Law dryly. "Is that what you'd like?"

"No, of course not—"

"Really," he interrupted, lofty. "Death is so much easier than living, after all."

"Don't dick around," Jade snapped. "Didn't your mother teach you not to play with your food before you eat it?"

"She might've mentioned it at some point or another, but does it look like I'm someone who took my mother's lessons to heart?" It was incredible how intimidating Law could be while serving so much sass. "I must say I like this side of you, Miss Everly. It's amazing you've survived so long with this spontaneous temper of yours."

"Just—"

"You won't die today. Perhaps further down the road. Your death is like aged wine. Best to let your fear ferment, and when you die in the end, it'll be all the sweeter."

"This doesn't make any sense." Jade tested the nozzle on her bleach canister. "You told me if I did anything, you'd burn this city down to kill me."

Law's eyes flickered. "A life for a life, Miss Everly. Take it or leave it." He turned toward the exit. "Clean up the mess in the study. The others will help you dispose of the body."

"Where are you going?"

If Jade knew Law better, she would've appreciated his next sentence as a grave declaration of exactly how exhausted he was.

"To find a place to sleep."

* * *

Law should have slept like the dead, but his rest came reluctantly. His body ached, and the leaden nature of his limbs made him think that there was some residual sea-stone left in his body, but that was impossible given that Law had completed the supreme task of Rooming himself into Vorax's kitchen earlier. His Devil's Fruits ability was truly in a refractory period now: he did not have to test to know that it would be hours, perhaps days, before his abilities returned. It made him nervous knowing that he had wasted the last remnant of his powers to ensure that Everly Jade would not escape, even as Marines ran amok trying to find him. Law considered himself a decent captain, but sometimes he had a penchant for poor prioritization especially when he was emotionally invested in a situation. The flaw certainly showed itself now.

He drifted off eventually, though his sleep was fitful. Law had too many near-death experiences to count for someone who hadn't even reached the latter-half of his twenties, but the resounding emotional salience of knocking on Death's door never left him. Each time it happened, memories he'd tried to stash deep and far away in his subconscious would penetrate through his weakened mental armor. The flashbacks varied. Sometimes it was just Doflamingo's sneer. Sometimes it was Law, trapped in his thirteen-year-old body, screaming in the darkness, his voice inaudible even to himself. Other times he was suffocating under a mountain of corpses, hands stiffened in rigor mortis trying to claw under his skin and claim him.

The flashbacks were a reminder. Law was a man whom Death could have snatched a million times over in his short life. Whether his survival was a mistake, proof that humans could will themselves into defiant existence, or just a whim granted by the gods, was a debate he chose not to participate in.

Law woke up in a start, when the sun was high in the sky and the room muggy. Vorax was a man with decent taste. His estate was clean and his decorations minimal, but the pale blue sheets Law laid were of a ridiculously high thread-count and he was thankful that they kept him cool. He opened his eyes groggily and found Jade standing in front of him, a filthy layer of mud and blood coating her front, her cheap sunglasses smeared.

"What time is it?" Law's voice cracked over the last word.

"Half past noon." She threw a stack of clean clothes onto his bed and a bottle of water. "You should shower and get changed."

"Speak for yourself."

Jade smiled, but it didn't have the same mystery as it normally did.

"Everything cleaned up?" Law asked.

"Yes. We'll throw him in the sea when it's nighttime. For now, he's—"

"Don't care," he interrupted. "Just as long as it gets done."

Jade looked a little surprised, but nodded. "It will."

Law uncapped the water bottle and drank heavily. Jade watched him carefully, clearly itching to ask him a question, and judging from how edgy she was, it was going to be personal.

"What?" he said when the water bottle was empty.

"You didn't tell the others," she noted. "They think I killed Vorax because you asked me to. You didn't tell them what you heard about Joker."

Law shrugged. "If they knew, they'd kill you on the spot."

"As you should," she retorted.

"Why are you complaining?"

"Because it doesn't make _sense_ ," she said. It struck Law that this was a point of particular stress for her. She expected him to act a certain way, to behave according to certain morals, and it pleased Law to know that he could confuse her in such a manner, because it was rendered poor prognosis if someone thought they could predict his behavior. "What do you have to gain from keeping me alive?"

"Many things," he said, leaning heavily back against the headboard. "You're a smart woman, Miss Everly. Surely you can come up with some theories."

Jade pursed her lips. She must've bought herself makeup earlier, because her lips were perfectly painted as usual, this time with a bright fuchsia. The color choice made her teeth look yellow.

"You want me for information. Or to make a deal with me. You want me to lead you through the Grand Line and feed Joker false information."

Law shrugged. "All valid."

"That's what doesn't make sense." Her smile was hard and brutal. "All those plans require you to trust me, and you already know you shouldn't."

"That's unfortunately not a decision you get to make."

"Or is it because you think any attempts to betray you would be useless?" she countered. "You think I'm that insignificant, that no matter what I do, I wouldn't be able to touch you?"

"If I thought you were insignificant, you would have never set foot aboard the Polar Tang," he replied. "That being said, I know your motivation now, and that motive requires you to be invested in keeping me alive. That's obviously an investment I have as well. As long as I'm aware of what you will ultimately attempt to do when we get to Sabaody Archipelago, I have nothing to fear from you in the meantime. An alliance contingent on preserving my life is not a bad one to make."

Jade did not appear pleased with his reasoning. Law, tired of having to explain himself especially when he thought he was being more than generous, threw his empty water bottle at her. She punted it to the side, where it clattered to the ground with a hollow echo.

"What makes you think I won't strike the same deal with Joker?" she asked. "He's the bigger fish, isn't he? Why would I depend on you over him, when you're just some rookie starting out in the Grand Line?"

"Because if you know the slightest bit about Joker, then you should know better to strike a deal with him and think you'll come out alive."

"I barely know the slightest bit about you, but I could say the same for you."

Law shrugged again. "Good. Then hedge your bets and make your choice."

Jade's mouth twisted. "Have you met him? Joker, I mean."

Law hesitated, then nodded. "It was a long time ago."

"Then you know he's powerful. He has command of people and organizations that make us look like ants scrambling across a beach. He can even mobilize the Marines."

 _The Marines are the most minor of his puppets_ , thought Law darkly, but he did not voice it aloud. He just nodded again, unsure of where Jade was going with this declaration. Law was not the type to dwell for long hours over the supposed fruitlessness of a goal; he'd spent the majority of his childhood dwelling on his helplessness. He had no intention of wallowing in his uselessness. So what if crushing Doflamingo would take years? He'd bided his time for ten years already—what was a few years more?

Jade was silent for a long time after. When it was clear that Law had no response to the fear-mongering Jade spouted, she then asked, very quietly,

"What did Joker do to you, Captain Trafalgar?"

Law's heart skipped a beat. It was the first time Jade had asked about Law's own motivations, though he guessed she would have never ventured to ask if the tables were not now so skewed in his favor.

"I thought you didn't care to know."

Jade sat down at the foot for her bed, her profile barely making a dent in the mattress. To Law's surprise, she took off her sunglasses and folded them in her palm. There was not the slightest hint of a smile on her face now. The scars over her left eye contracted as her good eye, black as night with the faint flash of crimson, narrowed as they met his.

"I want to know who I'm betting on." Jade's voice was soft as felt. Despite that she was covered in blood and dirt, her expression was startlingly clear—it struck Law that he could actually read Jade in this moment, and that for once, she was being honest. "I want to know if you will do absolutely anything and everything to destroy Joker, that this isn't just some petty grudge you can cast away one morning when the journey becomes too difficult. I want to make sure that you know this goal may end in your demise, but that regardless, you intend to kill him or die trying."

It didn't matter what color Jade painted her lips. Nothing made her more beautiful than honesty.

"I intend to kill him, Miss Everly." _But I don't intend to die._ Was that true, though? Jade's honestly forced Law to speak his truths. "Or I will die trying."

Jade smiled and extended her arm out for a handshake.

"We have a deal then, Captain Trafalgar."

Law took her hand in his. A deal with the devil, though he didn't know which one of them was making it.

"We have a deal."

* * *

The Hearts set up shop in Vorax's mansion, appropriately taking advantage of the multiple bathrooms by cleaning themselves up before discussing the next steps of their nefarious plans. Clothed in colorful tropical prints, the crew assembled in the dining room after Ikkaku successfully ruined all the remaining ingredients of Vorax's refrigerator in an effort to make stir-fry only to belatedly realize that his hot sauce was a vial of coagulated blood ("Huh, I must've brought the wrong bottle from the sub. I thought it smelled weird." "Like _iron, maybe_?! "Why did you even bring hot sauce of all things from the sub!?" "Better question, why was there blood in the sub's fridge— _CAPTAIN, not again!"_ ).

After throwing out what was certainly a vampire's dream lunch (and maybe Bepo's too, Jade wasn't sure, the bear was eyeing the meal rather longingly), Law sent Uni and Penguin out in disguise to gather information and take-out. Ikkaku was punished for her debacle of a meal with sentry duty, while Bepo was rewarded with a nap for his heroic efforts in disposing of Vorax's body. Meanwhile, Jade hoped Law would follow Bepo's example, especially since the captain was still hobbling around using an umbrella as a cane, but he instead decided that Jade and his task would be to interrogate Vorax's files. Resigned to what was guaranteed to be an unpleasant afternoon, Jade obediently led the way to the library.

Located in the eastern wing of the second floor, Vorax's library was, like the rest of his home, meticulous and tidy. The room was no larger than the guest bedroom, but the four walls were lined with shelves stacked full with books of all widths and sizes, and for how extensive his collection was, the books were impressively well-kept. At first glance, one would have pinned Vorax for a scholar with a voracious appetite for economics and international relations, not a slaver who required extensive knowledge of such topics in order to be as successful as he was.

Jade made several laps around the study, her bare feet sinking into the soft green carpet. She was conscious of Law watching her and therefore did not want to give anything away too quickly: there was a process when it came to infiltrating another slaver's records, and she did not want to reveal how top-tier slavers all abided by variations to guidelines established by the Human Auction House. Like the legend to a secret map, these guidelines were notoriously difficult to obtain, and being privy to such information was an honor in and of itself.

Being shipped out to North Blue, where slavers like Otterman and Price were pathetically considered the top of their field, had been a huge blow to Jade's ego. In her years of suffering through the Grand Line slave trade, she'd learned how true expert slavers operated, and the key to success was subtlety, a trait that neither North Blue slaver had ever possessed. Vorax, on the other hand, may have been retired but bore the remnants of a man who at his prime must have qualified to be a part of the Human Auction House.

Not for the first time, Jade regretted stabbing Vorax in the neck. There was much she could have learned from him.

Jade finished her third lap around the library and stood still in the center of the room, thinking.

 _Tales of Miss Fortune: The Effect of Economic Sanctions in Bornua Kingdom_

 _Nefartiti's Golden Goose_

 _Deals of Jaya_

 _One Piece: Profits of Dreams_

Her mental checklist lengthened, and with it, her dread. There were easily ten, fifteen books printed full with records; it would take days for her to fully review them.

There was a loud "thunk" behind her. Jade turned to find Law slide into a cushioned leather seat in front of a stack of five books he'd selected on his own. She read through the titles: _Fatal Finance Fables and Foibles, Gemma's Off-Shore Conspiracies, Mysteries of Mariejois, Dark Turns in Portal Land, Get Rich Quick Schemes and Alabastan Pitfalls._ She frowned. They were all titles she had mentally bookmarked.

"You can get the others." Law winced slightly as he leaned back in his seat and opened up _Mysteries of Mariejois_. "I probably exceeded the maximum weight I'm allowed to carry right now."

"How did you choose these?"

Law gave her an exasperated look, like he was tired of having to explain how smart he was and _would she just stop being surprised with his genius already_.

"His library's organized by genre and alphabetical author," he said shortly. "Everything in this room is nonfiction, historical accounts of trade, except for a select few titles that skirt the truth. It's not that hard to put together the pattern."

"Really? I thought it was a complicated process. It takes time to derive the pattern, especially when you don't know the person."

Law shrugged. "Not my first time seeing this organization scheme. There's value to knowing how to hide secrets in plain sight. Get the rest."

Jade retrieved the books she'd been eying and added them to the stack in front of Law. He glanced through them, nodding when he agreed with her selection, but raised his eyebrows tiredly when she set down _One Piece: Profits of Dreams_.

"You don't agree?"

"The economic impact of One Piece is undeniable," he answered, "regardless of whether or not you believe in One Piece itself."

"I know, that's why I didn't choose _Roger's Legacy: How One Piece Shaped Decades of Trade Negotiation_."

"How is this different?"

"Because this book is all theoretical," she answered. "It's about how financial structures would change if someone did find One Piece. It's all nonsense. It's such a pointless dream, pursuing something that you're not sure even exists, let alone know what it is. Even fools searching for the end of the rainbow expect a pot of gold at the end."

Law's expression was blank, but she detected the slightest twitch in his lower facial muscles that indicated he was trying hard not to frown. Jade grinned as she sat down across from him and leafed through _Profits of Dreams_.

"You're kidding, Captain Trafalgar. You're a believer?"

"I intend to find the One Piece and become the Pirate King, yes."

It was such a steadfast declaration of something so stupid and unexpected from Trafalgar Law that Jade let out a bark of laughter. She quickly reined it into a fit of suppressed giggles as Law's expression notably darkened, but he did not say anything until she recovered herself.

"Are you done?" he said lightly.

"I apologize," she said, entirely unapologetic. She derived a perverse joy in laughing at Law's _dreams_ —who would've thought someone as stoic as Trafalgar Law would have such a ridiculous, far-fetched goal? She would've guessed Law's dream was simply destroying Joker, revenge being a man's single greatest ambition. If she were to choose trope ambitions, she would've guessed world domination or developing the greatest weapon of mass destruction. The dream of One Piece was so childish, and Law did not strike her as a child.

"I just thought your goal was to disembowel Joker. Didn't think you would have such an innocent dream too," she smiled. "You seem so much more…intentional than that."

"Being intentional does not make this goal less valid, Miss Everly," said Law. "Do you think the greatest pirates of the age, Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks, or even Roger himself, do you think they'd pursue something as trivial as an innocent dream? One Piece isn't like chasing a unicorn."

"Chasing a unicorn is probably more reasonable," Jade said, amused. "I'm quite certain there's a unicorn island in the Grand Line."

"My point still stands."

"I don't know why Whitebeard or Shanks believe it," she shrugged, "but Roger declaring it on his death bed makes sense. What better way to solidify your legacy than to declare there's this esoteric treasure at the end of the world? He knew his influence. Fools from all four seas would take his word as law, and the pursuit of this grand treasure would give them a purpose to live for when they didn't have anything else. It's ingenious. He's immortalized in every other idiot's lifelong journey. He's like God, bestowing some grand purpose to a lost flock." Jade smiled. "How pathetic for the flock."

Jade was testing Law, and the captain knew that she was, but the tension in his right hand gave Jade all the information she needed. He could not create a Room, no matter how badly he wanted to.

"It does not matter what you think of me or my intentions," said Law after a long pause. "It doesn't change your circumstances, mm? You still need me to achieve your goals, whatever they are. Home, family, revenge, all of the above. You're looking for a mother and son. Your mother and brother, I presume. Sold ten years ago, and you haven't seen or heard from them since. You've borne witness to the slave trade. You know how brutal it is. What do you think are the chances they're still alive?"

Jade was no longer smiling. It was like Law had reached down her throat and gripped her heart in his hands, squeezing it tightly so that there was no way it could beat on its own.

"Even if they're alive," continued Law mercilessly, "what are the chances you'll ever see them again? The four seas are vast and this world wide. Say they're alive, say that you _do_ see them again…what are the chances they're the same people you want them to be? It's been ten years, Miss Everly. Do you think your home will be the same as it was before? Do you think your mother and brother are as whole as they were before? Do you think _you_ are?"

"I know all that," said Jade, voice like the jagged edge of a broken beer bottle.

"Do you?" Law's eyes glittered, and she knew that he was riding the same high she had moments earlier. There was nothing as gratifying as crushing the dreams of someone else when your own were so fleeting. "Then perhaps we're not so different, after all. We're both fools, chasing a dream we can't confirm the existence of, let alone its contents."

Law settled back in his seat, making himself comfortable, and opened his choice of text fully. Jade did the same. Surprisingly, she was not angry. Hidden in the pleasure of Law's victory was something bitter, caustic, and personal. He relished crushing her hopes, but only because he himself had paid the price of ever having his own.

 _Home, family, revenge_.

Law sounded like he would trade his evanescent faith in the One Piece for one of the above in a heartbeat.

She wanted to ask, but after some reflection, decided to keep quiet. Knowing more about Law required reciprocal payment, and Jade thought her soul, cut and carved like the meat off a spiral mound at a kabob stand, had suffered enough baring for the time being.

* * *

There weren't many things that Jade knew she was better than Law at, but reading through old slaving records was definitely one of them. Sure, it hadn't really helped Law's cause when he'd fallen asleep mid-way through his first file, but even at his prime, he could not have gone through over a thousand records in two hours. Jade was feeling quite exhausted by the time she completed her fifth book, her brain buzzing and her mind's eye seared with numbers every single time her eyelids closed. Law was snoring gently in front of her, so deeply asleep that Jade could've doodled on his face. She sort of wanted to.

Jade inhaled and exhaled deeply. She hated this kind of work, no matter how good she was at it. She could never get over how _easy_ it was for people to be reduced to numbers: seven digits, sometimes eight, the codification of their race, gender, height, and weight, the literal sum of their parts. She hated how easy it was for her to detach. She didn't even know the combination of numbers she was looking for. Surely Jayce's number had changed multiple times over the years. She didn't know how tall her brother had grown up to become, if he was fat or skinny, dark as night or light as sand. Was his hair long, short, was he muscular or lanky? Were he and Mother still together?

Did they remember who she was? Did they think about her?

Were they even alive? What if everything she had pursued for the last ten years was a lie, the smoke from fading embers, ghosts from her broken memory?

She could not keep reading. Law had gotten into her head. She had always prided herself for being independent, unfazed by the opinions of others, but something about Law threw her off. He was all steel eyes, steady gaze, minimal expressions, and furtive glances, control and strength constrained with the greatest of willpower. He made her nervous, but not in the way he used to—when she'd first met him, she was terrified of Law because she knew he would kill her without a second thought.

Now, she wasn't sure of that. Law had plenty of reasons to kill her, but he didn't. It made her uneasy, because believing that she meant something to Trafalgar Law was the stupidest mistake she could possibly make.

Jade realized she was just watching Law sleep. That was what little girls did in their teenage romance novels when they were smitten. Jade was not a teenage girl, was not in a romance novel, and she was not smitten.

She dusted herself off, stole Law's hat, and left the study.

* * *

Ikkaku was the only female member of the Hearts Pirates, which could be difficult at times. She had never been particularly feminine, but there were some things that men just didn't understand, like split ends, or conditioner, or menstrual cramps. Or menstruation as a whole. She'd grown up with three brothers and had been raised by a single father. Her first period had been a confusing time. She didn't mind men, but sometimes she did wish a box of tampons wasn't met with complete, abject horror by those around her. When it came to the topic of Women as a Composite Topic, the Heart Pirates were all ill-equipped in the generalities as well as the nuances. One would think that their captain, the Surgeon of Death, Doctor Doom, the Evil Physician Pirate, would be slightly less incompetent, but once, when Ikkaku's cramps had been so bad she'd spent an hour vomiting in the bathroom, Law had just stood awkwardly above her and after some thought, offered to take out her uterus. (At the time, she'd seriously considered the offer, but in retrospect it was a dramatic solution to something easily solved by birth control).

Ikkaku wasn't sure why Jade suddenly needed a haircut, but the barnacle had been acutely adamant about this need, and Penguin was always happy to spend as little time with Jade as possible. As annoying as it was when Penguin forced Ikkaku on barnacle duty ("I'm the first-mate, that's gotta mean _something_ _sometimes_!"), Ikkaku didn't put up much of a fight. Her bushy hair was reaching an uncontrollable length and ironically for a pirate, she was out of sea salt spray.

Which led to the two of them sitting in adjacent, red vinyl chairs, draped from the neck down with black cloths embroidered with "EMERALD SCISSORHANDZ" in silver sequins. How exactly Jade had chosen the salon was beyond Ikkaku, but the barnacle had passed multiple salons packed with people before settling on the shanty store. Despite its significant distance from the beach, everything in the shop was covered in a thin layer of sand. Everything just seemed slightly outdated, and all the product bottles were dusty with faded labels. The salon was completely devoid of customers except for them, which meant they had the pleasure of Emerald herself at their service.

"Oh, by the Dragons." Emerald traced her manicured hand through Jade's hair. "What atrocity have you put your gorgeous locks through?"

"Fire and burning acid," answered Jade with a practiced smile.

"Why?" cried Emerald, her gravity-defying afro bobbing back and forth as she shook her head. "You see how your curls are just _begging_ to escape! Look at your friend!" Emerald patted Ikkaku's head, and she had to sit on her hands to prevent herself from stabbing Emerald's hands to the wall. "Look at how lush these curls are! Embrace your natural self!"

This advice seemed rich coming from Emerald, whose platinum blonde hair was the furthest thing from natural against her deep complexion. Jade seemed to think this too, for she said,

"If you came out of your mother's womb with hair that color, I'll let you dye my hair green."

"That'd be an atrocious color on your anyway," Emerald sniffed. "So what do you want me to do today? Cut it all off and let you regrow things naturally?"

"Of course not," said Jade, aghast. "I want you to perm it."

"Perm it? I can already snap your hair in two!"

Jade didn't care. "I want it straight."

Emerald gave a little resigned sigh before piercing Ikkaku through with an accusatory stare.

"You want me to slaughter your hair too?"

"No," she replied, slightly taken aback with Emerald's ferocity. "Just a trim."

The artist nodded. "Good."

Despite how vehemently Emerald opposed Jade's choice, she was a professional. After several hours of Jade sitting with her hair in foils, Emerald blew dry Jade's hair and allowed her customer to examine her work. Jade's hair was short, clean, and unapologetically straight. Emerald had coated it with some protective mixture that left Jade's head surprisingly glossy and healthy-appearing. Jade fingered a strand of hair and nodded appreciatively at her reflection.

"Looks like I guessed right about you," she said. "You knew exactly what to do. Thank you."

"I've done this too many times," said Emerald begrudgingly. "As much as I hate doing it to our beautiful hair."

"I can only imagine. Are there a lot of us here?"

"Not in Kyuka. I used to live in Alabasta. There's a decent community there."

"Similar climates, I suppose."

"And foods."

Ikkaku felt like she was missing something. Emerald and Jade talked like they shared some secret kinship that Ikkkau was not privy to. Emerald looked at Jade with what could only be considered pity.

"You don't have to hide it, you know. The time of danger is over, and we're not that recognizable."

"That's what I thought," said Jade, standing up and shrugging off her cloak, "but I've been burnt more than once on that assumption."

Jade kindly paid for Ikkaku's haircut in appreciation for making Ikkaku wait. Emerald generously gave them a discount, but Jade paid extra for a bottle of conditioner and tipped heavily. Ikkaku wisely refrained from probing about the entire exchange until they were both out of earshot of the barbershop.

"You two know each other?" she ventured casually.

"Of course not. This is my first time in Kyuka."

"You're from the same place then."

Much to Ikkaku's surprise, Jade told the truth. "Yeah. From a country deep in the Grand Line."

Law always said that nothing compelled strangers to spill their secrets more than silence. Of course, Law's silences were usually filled with subtle threats—the flash of a Room, the caress of his nodachi. Ikkaku had always been blunt to a fault, but she figured Jade was not one who would cave under the pressure of quiet anyway.

"Is it dangerous where you're from?"

Jade hummed as she thought. They'd re-entered the more populated part of Kyuka, where tourists crowded the streets and children ran amok with pinwheels and guns that squirted bubbles. The summer day stretched long, beating fiercely as it descended slowly.

"Not really," said Jade after a long pause. "It was just dangerous being who I was after I left."

"In what way?"

"In a kill or be killed kind of way," she replied with a faint smile. "Except in my situation, maybe it was more of a sell or be sold. Did I tell you I got out of the whole ordeal by selling my eye?"

Ikkaku didn't know why she was trying to get truth out of someone whose lies were engraved in her marrow.

"I don't buy that."

"Neither does your captain. So nothing has changed."

"Are you trying to get home then? Is that what you're doing by joining us?"

"Yes," was the simple reply.

It unnerved Ikkaku. Maybe she was being naïve. Maybe Jade was just exceptionally good at lying. But when she said that single affirmation, she didn't have that painstaking smile on now, and she just _felt_ different.

"Cool." Ikkaku ran a hand through her hair. "It's cool you got a place to go."

Jade laughed. "That's it? Cool? That was a remarkably easy motive to convince you to believe."

"Motives tend to be stronger when they're simple," said Ikkaku wisely. "Revenge. Glory. Power. You don't need a complicated past to build a compelling future."

"Maybe not," agreed Jade, "but a plan built by fools is just built on dreams and air."

"No, but none of us are fools."

Jade smiled at that. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Captain isn't—"

"I was talking about you, Ikkaku. Not your captain. What are you looking for? Money? Glory? Power?"

A child, freckled and badly sunburnt, laughed loudly as his father made a series of stupid-looking expressions for his entertainment. He was missing his two front teeth. At a nearby kiosk, a teenager bought his younger sister a cone of rainbow-colored spun cotton, which she devoured in less than two bites. Kyuka was a vacation island, peaceful and content in the ease of nuclear families. It was not home to these tourists, but they weren't looking for home.

Briefly, Ikkaku left Kyuka. The heat and blowing sand disappeared and was replaced by blasting snow, piles of pure white as far as the eye could see. The wind howled, and along with it, Ikkaku screamed into the night the names of her father and brothers. The frost bit through her skin and she could no longer feel her toes. The snow piled around her, higher and higher, and she was lost, alone, weak, and forgotten.

Ikkaku blinked, and Kyuka returned to focus. She was being silly.

"I'm not interested in any of that," she said. "Money, glory, power…I can always get that. It doesn't drive me."

"Oh?" Jade looked at her. "Then what are you searching for?"

"Nothing. I already found what I want. I'm just making sure I don't lose it."

Jade smirked. "He's a lucky man."

"What?"

Jade's fingers brushed Ikkaku's and the barnacle leaned closer. "Love is what drives you, right? How sweet."

"The fuck?" bristled Ikkaku. "No, that's not—"

"I'm jealous." Jade's breath was light and airy against Ikkaku's ear, and her fingers were now interlocked with hers. "To be the object of such a cute girl's affections. What a lucky man."

Jade was taller than Ikkaku by a near head and was surprisingly strong as she steered Ikkaku off the main street and into a side alley. Ikkaku found herself backed against a wall, behind a frozen smoothies stand, and Jade peered down at her, her lips curled.

"What are you—"

"Hush," whispered Jade. "We're being followed. Just let me lead."

Jade abruptly leaned down and pressed her lips to Ikkaku's. Ikkaku audibly gasped and moved to shove Jade away, but the barnacle applied urgent pressure to Ikkaku's wrists that forced her slack. All senses sharpened around her—Ikkaku knew a hundred-fifty ways to incapacitate Jade but out of the corner of her eyes, she glimpsed two white Marine uniforms hover at the alleyway's entrance and understood that Jade had been telling the truth. This was the most elementary method of throwing people off their tracks, and the cliché of it made Ikkaku cringe inside. Good Marines wouldn't be distracted by two suspicious targets making out; they were wasting time just standing in place when they could be scaling the walls instead.

But sure enough, after several minutes of balking, one of the Marines elbowed his companion and gestured for them to move on with a wide grin. Jade was still dutifully kissing Ikkaku, who was doing a very half-hearted job of returning the gesture, and only after several minutes did the barnacle stop.

"Wow," Jade said, disappointed. "You made that _way_ harder than it should've been. At least try to pretend you were into it, Ikkaku."

"Sorry," she snapped, "I couldn't really focus on shoving my tongue down your mouth when we could've easily been shot through! I can't even believe that worked."

"Oh, I wouldn't have even tried it if you were a guy," shrugged Jade. "But you underestimate the simplicity of men when it comes to watching two girls make out. Seventy-percent success rate."

"That's just…"

"Sad? Pathetic?" Jade offered. "Makes you wonder why so many societies defer to their judgment?"

"All the above," grumbled Ikkaku.

"Well, it has its advantages," Jade grinned. "Crisis averted rather painlessly. We can wait for several more minutes and then head back to the house."

"How long have they been following us?"

"Not too long. Probably since we were talking about your captain…I should've been more careful. I apologize."

"It's fine. But what you were saying about him—I'm not in _love_."

"Oh, that," Jade waved her bottle of conditioner aimlessly. "I know that. You were talking about your home. Family. That stuff. I get it. Means a million times more than love."

"I wasn't saying that. It's just not my personal motivation, but there's nothing wrong with being in love—"

"Wrong," cut in Jade. "There's plenty wrong with being in love. Love nothing, dream of nothing, hope for nothing. That's how fools survive."

"What kind of existence is that?" said Ikkaku, indignant. "See, that's what separates us from you. Our crew is a family, we protect each other and fight for each other and dream _for_ each other. It's not about money or glory or power, but it is about love—it's about loving our family and the home we made."

Jade's smile was knowing. "Where does revenge fall among all of that?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Just that your family may not be suspended by something as weightless as fools and their dreams."

* * *

Law must have dozed off at some point during his reading, for he woke up with the side of his face plastered to a damp page of _Underworld Theory._ Gingerly, he peeled his face from the book, cringing as the page, made frail from his drool, ripped in two. Above him, Penguin snickered.

"What time is it?" Law groaned.

"That's a great question, Cap. I mean, what time _is_ it? What is time? Now that we've crossed through to the Grand Line, how many time zones did we traverse? Is time affected by magnetic currents in the same way that our compasses no longer point us to a unified pole? Does—"

"Pen, I wanted the time, not a philosophy lesson."

"It's half-past three in the afternoon."

Law yawned and pointed to the seat across from him, now vacant save for two plump white pillows. "Where'd she go?"

"She went to get her hair fixed."

Law frowned. "Alone?"

"'Course not. I sent Ikkaku with her."

"Good."

Penguin scratched his chin. "Somethin' you wanna tell me, Captain?"

"What?"

"Doesn't make any sense. You don't trust her enough to get a haircut alone, but you sent her to kill a slaver on her own? Smells fishier than a merman."

"That's racist, Penguin," said Law tiredly.

"Fishier than Bepo's breath."

"That's…"

"Fishy," said the first-mate seriously.

Law rubbed his eyes, exhausted. He might as well not have rested. "Fine. She moved on her own. Killing Vorax was all her—I only knew because I'd planted a Baby Den-Den on her."

"And you covered for her?" Penguin said, stunned. "Why?"

"Because I still have use for her." Law ran a hand through his hair. "Wait. Where's my hat?"

Penguin frowned. "Dunno. Maybe you left it in the bedroom."

"No, I had it here…" Law looked at Penguin, incredulous. "Did the barnacle steal my hat?"

"It wouldn't be the most ridiculous thing, considering how much you've let her overstep her boundaries already," said Penguin tartly. "What's she got that's so important that you won't kill her?"

Law did not answer. The rest of his crew knew about Doflamingo and his Underworld alias peripherally. They knew of Law's past, they knew of Corazon, but it was one thing to know about his past and another to truly understand the depth of Law's loss, rage, and hatred. Even as a child, he was not what one would call expressive—apparently Law had been such an easy baby that his parents had thought it'd be simple to have another, and did Lamie prove them wrong—but Law's emotions were like an illusion, a peaceful stream masking a torrential ravine that ran deep. He felt little, but when he did, it ran beyond his rational limits. He was the Captain to his crew, the leader amidst chaos, and as such, they did not know just how lost Law could truly be.

"Cap? Does she have something on you?"

Law scoffed. "She doesn't have that kind of power."

"Then—"

"Stop," snarled Law. "I don't need to hear the 'this is a bad idea' or 'are you sure'—I've thought this through. I'm not blindly trusting her. But I'm not going to kill her either."

"Fine," replied his first-mate after a short pause. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing it as a…payment for what she did yesterday."

"You mean save my life?" Law said, tone scathing. "When no one else from this crew did?"

Law regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but the damage was done. Penguin flinched like Law had slapped him, and Law's stomach burned with shame. But he was tired, angry, and out-of-sorts—his conviction to protect Everly Jade, as long as he believed her circumstances were his cross to bear, was a decision built on a moral ground he thought he'd long lost. It was stupid and irrational, two things that Law was typically not, though he couldn't even be sure of that today.

"I get it," muttered Penguin.

"No, you don't," sighed Law. "I…"

The apology wouldn't leave his mouth.

"Just trust me on this. Don't tell the others. I don't want them to tip her off."

"What's that supposed to mean? You want them to treat her like she's one of us?"

"I want her to open up to someone. Anyone. I want to know where she's from, how she got here, everything about her personal life and history that made her a slaver in North Blue searching for Joker."

"She could just be a really awful person."

"Aren't we all," stated Law.

Penguin, still smarting from Law's jibe and failure to apologize, did not bother to correct him.

* * *

 _free talk_ :

 _thank you for your patience with this chapter. i have always been intrigued by the paradox of law's goals: trying to be pirate king and finding one piece while being so ready to die destroying doflamingo. it's something i hope to explore with jade as a wonderful stressor to these goals. innocent dreams are for innocent people, after all, and none of these characters have the fortune of an atraumatic childhood._

 _thanks to the lovelies who reviewed. would love to hear your thoughts this time too._

 _xoxo,  
m.n_


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